Human Being
by skygirl55
Summary: "Did you ever write it? The book you were researching." He gave her a small smile. "No." Then, after a beat he added, "I wrote something better." Caskett AU. Companion/Reversal to Being Human
1. Chapter 1

**Human Being**

Companion/Reversal to "Being Human" (with an admittedly non-creative title!)

* * *

 **ONE**

Forty-eight hours after _the incident_ , Kate Beckett paced her apartment like a hungry animal staring at a juicy steak through the bars of a metal cage. The nauseating remnants of betrayal still pulsed through her veins; she could hardly stand it as there was nothing she hated more. The web of lies and deceit he had strung, while slightly different than betrayal, felt equally as bad. Perhaps the only thing that would claw at her more was the lack of conclusion to their relationship, but she decided she would need to find a way to live with that gaping hole, because there was absolutely no way she would ever agree to see him again.

Though she came across a fair amount of males her age in her line of work—a rarity given the sharp left turn the world had taken several decades earlier—the vast majority of them were criminals, so of course the first non-criminal human male in her age bracket she stumbled upon had to be one who was absolutely, utterly insane; that seemed fitting for her luck.

Though she told them to go away, the questions still bounced around inside her brain, tapping at the inside of her skull and demanding an answer. Why would he do this? What kind of person would think such an act was acceptable and not repugnant? Was he a psychopath? Did he have criminal aspirations or was he just plain crazy?

She spent her days (and sometimes her nights) as a police detective and thus by profession she was an answerer of questions. Who killed this person? Why had they done so? What was their motivation?

Her drive to seek out such answers was what made her such a good cop, such a good detective. She would hunt relentlessly, turning over every rock until the answers or, at the least, reasonable explanations could be found, but there was no reason in this. None. Which meant this case would be one added to her very short list of unsolved—not because the answers weren't there, but because she simply refused to look them in the eye; the remnants of dishonestly simply burned too much.

* * *

Almost two decades before Kate's birth the world had begun to change. An unknown virus attacked those with Y chromosomes without discrimination. No matter age, race, or health status men began to die one by one—often only days after coming down with symptoms of the still-mysterious illness that manifested a lot like the flu. First, there were several hundred deaths, then several thousand, then the numbers began to creep into the tens of thousands. What stumped scientists even further was that while women showed no symptoms, they seemed to be carriers of the plight, for the majority were not able to carry male babies to term.

Thorough research was conducted by many institutions, but the cause remained unknown. The disease seemed to strike in unpredictable cycles. Months would sometimes pass with no reported deaths, then out of nowhere several thousand would occur. By the time Kate was born only the world ration of women to men was around one thousand to one and it seemed to settle out at that point. As a sufficient supply of frozen sperm and embryos existed (thanks to modern medicine and research) the population of women was still able to grow at a rate nearly equal to that before the virus struck, which meant the world was not in imminent danger—yet.

As the years went on, society began to slowly adapt to the limited male presence. Women began to spread out into careers previously male-dominated. The improvements in robot technology also helped greatly, and when Kate was barely a toddler the first at-home male android hit the market designed to help women with not just companionship but household tasks. After the initial curiosity phase wore off, only about thirty or forty percent of households contained a male android.

For Kate, growing up in a female-dominated world seemed perfectly normal to her and she never had the want for male friends or male companionship simply because she'd never known a world in where those things were a possibility. After starting on the police force, her interest in males dwindled even further, for the majority she interacted with were criminals. As her friends pointed out: coming across men only when she arrested them had a tendency to taint her viewpoint, and she couldn't argue this completely, but she also didn't think it mattered very much.

Along with the drop in the male population, violent crime had dropped as well, thus Kate's time as a detective was spent much differently than predecessors even ten years her senior. Even though New York remained one of the most highly populated cities in the world, there was no longer a need for separate divisions of the NYPD to investigate homicides, robberies, or others specific sub-sets of crimes. Instead, a conglomerate Major Crimes division investigated any and all criminal activity, and Kate was all too happy to dedicate the better part of her life to making her city a safer place for everyone even if the dedicated life she lived was a rather lonely one.

On her thirtieth birthday, her father presented her with a most unexpected gift: a male android named Rick. He was tall, had sparkling blue eyes, and was handsome, though in a rougher, rugged sort of way. A mixture of shocked and annoyed, Kate thanked him for the gesture, but then immediately asked her father to return Rick to whatever store he was purchased from. The elder man, a lawyer by trade, presented a counter argument.

Rick belonged to a new time-share android service. He would be hers for two days a week for cooking, cleaning, or running errands—whatever she desired. Though she continued to protest, her father insisted the first three months were prepaid, so there was no use not taking on Rick's services. Quite annoyed and a little bit horrified, Kate reluctantly allowed the android man into her apartment, convinced she would hate his presence, but within just two weeks found him to be rather convenient. She no longer had to do the cleaning tasks she hated—she assigned those to him—and eating some of his delicious home-cooked meals instead of takeout certainly wasn't that much of a sacrifice.

When her three-month gift expired, Kate continued to pay for Rick's bi-weekly services and two years later he was still a regular presence in her home. He was helpful and polite, and though she knew it was all just programming, she always felt as though he enjoyed being there with her.

Then, without warming, everything had changed.

* * *

That week one of her days off coincided with one of Rick's days at her apartment, which was convenient, because she knew that she needed to go shopping for some larger, heavier items, and that way she didn't have to carry them herself. She and her android companion set off on their journey downtown, but barely made it a few blocks from her apartment when, all of a sudden, a terrible cracking sound filled the sky. Apparently, part of a crane high above the ground had come loose and was plummeting towards the sidewalk—the sidewalk on which she and Rick stood. While Kate was frozen in horror, her companion sprung into action and tackled her, pulling her out of the way of danger. Before Kate even realized what was happening, she was on the ground with Rick hovering protectively over her, protecting her from all shrapnel.

Several minutes after the twisted metal hit the ground, Kate managed to collect herself and stumble shakily away from the scene. She didn't believe she was injured, but didn't feel up to her errands, so after giving a statement to the responding officer, she began to make her way back home still half in a daze. All the while, she felt Rick beside her, his hand on the small of her back.

It wasn't until they were almost back to her place when she began to question whether or not it was part of android programming to be protective of a human being. It seemed plausible that had the android sensed the danger of the falling object it would have defaulted to a protection-mode, and thus shielded her. What seemed out of place, however, was his continued attention. Then again, perhaps she was simply too out of it to realize what was going on.

Not until she was inside her apartment did she realize that her gut reaction that something was amiss was correct, for on the back of Rick's neck Kate spotted a cut. This was not the same type of cut she'd seen in the faux skin exterior shell of other androids, but a slice dotted with tones of maroon and red; dried blood. Suddenly, her half-dazed shock was replaced by utter fury.

"Human—you're human?!" she'd spat at him. He'd blinked at her and refuted until she grabbed at his neck and revealed the crimson on her fingertips. "You're bleeding, you jerk!" she'd accused, unable to formulate a better insult in her shock.

Remorse immediately filled the man's eyes. "I can explain," he'd tried to say, but she had no interest in hearing more lies, so she'd quite literally pushed him out of her apartment and her life, telling him that she never wanted to see him again—and she'd meant it.

Yet, within her, the question nagged: Why? Why had he done this?

That afternoon, three days later, Kate paced her apartment still seething from the memory of what had transpired. During one of the laps across her apartment she heard a most terrifying noise: the front door creaking open followed by the sound of footsteps. She immediately dashed from her position in the hall and into the bedroom, where she kept a weapon in her bedside drawer. Since firearms had long-since been outlawed, police officials such as herself used high power electronic stun-guns to disable any adversaries they came across. They were highly effective weapons, and Kate would not hesitate to use one against her intruder.

After kicking off her shoes so she could move silently towards the intruder, Kate tip-toed out of her bedroom to find a large figure entering her kitchen. She sucked in a deep breath, and hurried forward, shooting the man the second she was within range without giving his presence a second though. Immediately, he cried out and dropped to his knees as the electrodes in his skin drove volts of electricity through his body. He curled his body inwards and shivered, but Kate didn't back down.

"Don't move or I'll shoot you again."

"Don't, don't." He whimpered before twisting his body with great effort so he could look at her. "Please don't."

Seeing her former android on the floor of her kitchen, Kate dropped her arms to her sides. Though she had no desire to see Rick, she also doubted he would not hurt her. They had been alone together countless times in the past, which meant if he had ill-intentions towards her he would have already acted on them. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I thought—ah, shit," he groaned and groped towards his mid-back where the tines of the stun gun cartridge had lodged in his flesh.

Rolling her eyes slightly, Kate dropped to her knees and yanked the needle points out of his skin. He cried out again, presumably since she was not even the slightest bit careful, but then breathed out a sigh of relief. "Why are you here, Rick—if that is even your real name."

"It is; it is. I—shit, I can't even move." He lamented when he attempted to sit up only to roll back down on the ground and curl his arms across his chest.

She kicked at his shin with her bare foot demanding for the third time, "Why are you here?"

"I…thought you'd be at work. Needed to pick up something I left, drop off…this…" he uttered out while pulling a white envelope out of the inside pocket of his blazer.

Kate belt down and plucked the envelope from his hands. Inside, she found a cashier's check for a little more than thirty thousand dollars. More than a little shocked she stammered out, "Wha—what the hell is this?"

"A—a refund," he stammered. "Two years' worth of payment to RC Inc. for—ah," he groaned again, though that time he succeeded in pushing himself up into a sitting position. Resting his back against the kitchen cabinets he huffed out a breath. "Android services not provided by an android."

Kate continued to stare down at the check. In her fury about other things, she had never once thought about the money she'd paid to the alleged android time-share company. Thinking about it in that moment, however, she would have never expected to receive the money back. Strange as it was, Rick had actually performed the services she'd desired and thus had earned the money fairly, even if it was under the pretense of a huge fabrication.

She considered her options, but then decided against keeping the check. All she really desired was a clean break from the man who had manipulated his way into her life.

Holding the check out in her hand she said, "You don't have to do this. I don't want the money back."

He shook his head. "'s fine; I never needed it."

Her brow wrinkled as she looked between him and the check. "You don't need thirty thousand dollars?"

"Not really."

"How is that possible?"

"I…I—god." He groaned and clutched his hands to his stomach. Rolling onto his right side, he collapsed onto her kitchen floor. "I need to lie down."

With a heavy sigh, Kate placed her stun gun on the counter and walked over to the cabinet where she kept drinking glasses. She pulled one out, filled it to the brim with water, and then placed it on the floor beside Rick's head. "Drink that and you should be feeling better in about ten minutes. Then, I want you to leave and never come back."

Kate left the injured man in the kitchen and sat patiently in the living area for those ten minutes to pass. She heard movement in the kitchen, and then saw him walking towards the corner where her washer and dryer were. She stood, poised to charge after him and demand to know what he was up to, when he returned with a small notepad cradled in his hand. Though he moved a lot slower than normal, he appeared to be steady on his feet, which meant he could oblige by her request.

"I'm really sorry, Kate. I…I never meant for it to turn out like this," he confessed with a small smile. Then, he turned towards the exit.

She wanted to let him go. Part of her brain wanted her to call out, "Good riddance!" as he left, but the other part, the one more in tune with her heart, made her asked, "Why?"

He turned back towards her slowly. "Excuse me?"

She walked two steps towards him. "Why did you do it? Pretend to be a household android? Are you crazy? Do you have some sort of sick fetish?"

He cracked a small smile. "None of the above. It was only meant to be for a short time—for research."

She blinked. "Research? For what?"

"I'm a writer."

She blinked again. "A writer."

"Yes."

"Like…a journalist?"

He shook his head. "Playwright and novelist."

Her jaw fell open in shock. "You've written a novel?"

"Several."

"About what?"

He gave a small smile. "You should know; you've read them."

"What?" she responded a bit dumbly, thinking she must have heard him wrong.

With great effort, he walked from the hall and across the living area, to one of the twin bookshelves she had on the opposite wall. He stood before it for a moment then plucked a hardback title from the second shelf from the top. Turning, he held it out to her.

Kate stepped towards him and reached out for the book. _Flowers for Your Grave_ by R. Castle. She had indeed read that book—several times, in fact; it was one of her favorites, but she still did not understand what he was trying to tell her.

Presumably sensing that, he reached out and tapped the book cover. "That's me; Richard Castle."

"No….?" She said in a way that was not quite a statement nor was it a question; it was somewhere in between for her state of disbelief was multiplying by the moment. When his response was to bob his head, she flipped the book open and lifted its back cover. She leafed through a few pages until she found the About the Author page, only to discover it was very unhelpful.

 _Mr. Castle lives in New York City with his family_.

Madness; this was surely madness. Looking back up at him, she accused, "You're lying—again."

"I'm not," he concluded simply. Then, he reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, and from it pulled a small card, which he held out to her.

She snatched it from him and immediately saw it was a government-issued registration card in the name of Richard E. Castle. The small photograph printed on it was clearly of the man before her, but Kate still could not believe what she was seeing; it just seemed so improbable. She flipped the card over in her hand to check the back—a habit she picked up as a beat cop to see if the ID was a fake. It certainly looked real, so if it was a fake it was a very good one.

Glancing up into the azure eyes of the man before her, Kate felt a shiver travel up her spine. God—what was happening. Looking back down at the book in one hand and the ID in the other, she felt her brain begin to spin. "I…need to sit down."

"If you don't mind, I'll join you. That stun gun really packs a punch," he grumbled.

She said nothing so a moment later they were seated at opposite ends of her couch. She cradled the book in her lap and passed the ID back to him while saying, "I…but…why?" still struggling to understand why one of her favorite authors had masqueraded as an android servant for over two years.

"Like I said, it was research. Thought I'd write a book about an android man or a man being an android. I wasn't sure, but I knew I had to thoroughly research it by playing the part. That's why I created that online advertisement that your father found. It was a three-month gig; thought that would be enough time, but then you wanted to renew your contract."

Kate's eyes darted back and forth as she tried to recall that time not quite two years prior. She had called a number to set up her auto-payments for Rick's services; it had all seemed quite legitimate. "That woman I spoke to…who…"

He nodded. "That was my mother; she was in on the ruse."

"But…why? Why would you have let me renew?"

He gave a little shrug. "I was still researching and learning, especially since I knew you were a cop."

She felt her stomach flip. "You were watching me."

He held out his hands defensively. "Nothing inappropriate, I promise, but-"

"You were watching me as a human when I thought you were an android; it was all inappropriate," she shot back at him.

He dropped his chin. "Fair enough. As I said, it was never my intention to hurt you. I just…well, things went too far and I didn't know how to tell you the truth because…because I knew you'd be mad," he added, mumbling.

Her eyes narrowed. "You're damn right I'm mad. Furious. I let you into my home, my life. You heard things—you saw things that I never would have allowed if I thought you could think with anything other than a computer chip."

"I understand that; I really do and I'll go. I won't contact you again; I promise. I'll—shit!" he cursed when he moved to stand but his knees buckled beneath him. Falling back on the couch he reached down to grip his left calf. "God that hurts!"

"Muscle cramps are common after being shocked," Kate informed him. "They'll come and go, but should be gone in a few hours."

He stood and hobbled a few feet away from her. "Thanks. I'm just gonna…" His voice drifted off and he thumbed towards the door.

He'd nearly made it all the way out of her apartment before she called out, "Rick!" and he turned around. Taking a deep breath she asked, "Did you ever write it? The book you were researching."

He gave her a small smile. "No." Then, after a beat he added, "I wrote something better." And with that, he walked out of her apartment for the final time.

* * *

 **A/N** : updates will be daily leading up to this weekend's pornado on tumblr (hint: that means one of the chapters will be M rated :) )

I wasn't sure if i was going to post this reversal-and certainly not this quickly-but then I really wanted to do it for the pornado so...enjoy :)


	2. Chapter 2

**TWO**

Carrying a take-away cup of coffee in each of her hands, Kate reached the doors leading to the morgue and turned around so she could use her back to push one of them open thereby keeping her cargo safe. Beginning her day with a seven a.m. visit to the morgue had become so commonplace Kate barely even noticed the unpleasant chemical smells and didn't even flinch at the sight of a corpse or two. She had long been desensitized to such encounters thanks to her profession, plus visiting the morgue came with a very positive, pleasant bonus: seeing one of her best friends, Dr. Lanie Parish.

The two had met three years earlier when Lanie took over as one of the lead medical examiners for the NYPD. After working with her on a few cases, Kate felt a bond start to form with the woman who's sassy, witty attitude always made her laugh, and they'd been friends ever since. As such, that morning's visit was not a work-related bonus, but one part of a larger mission.

"Morning Kate—and thank you very much!" Lanie said when she took the coffee cup from her friend's outstretched hand.

"You're welcome."

Lanie eagerly popped the top off the travel cup, stuck her nose over the rim, and inhaled deeply. "Oooh yeah; that's the good stuff. None of that factory-made shit they brew down here," she commented in reference to the NYPD provided java that was composed partly of coffee beans, but also chemical flavorings and other filler, since real beans had become very expensive and difficult to acquire.

Giving a little shrug Kate said, "Yeah, well, I thought I'd splurge today." And bribe her friend into helping her with her problem—or so she hoped.

"Celebrating something?"

"No."

Lanie took a sip of coffee, hummed pleasurably, and then said, "So then what is it? Your message was cryptic, and you know I don't like suspense."

Nodding her head, Kate placed her coffee cup on an empty steel exam table and then reached into the messenger bag slung over one shoulder. From it, she pulled a large brown envelope that had already been torn open at one end. She slipped her hand in through the torn edges and procured a bound pack of paper, which she held out to her friend. "This was messengered to my apartment yesterday afternoon."

Simply holding the book in her hand again sent a sharp pang of irritation into Kate's gut—she was just _so_ annoyed.

When the package was delivered via messenger Kate could not even begin to fathom what it could be as she hadn't ordered anything. Figuring it might be something from work, she opened it, but was utterly shocked to find the thick stack of pages with a handwritten note on top. _I thought you should be the first to read it – RC,_ it read. Utterly confused, it took her several minutes to identify the initials. RC—Richard Castle.

When she figured out the origins of the package, Kate had been filled with such fury that she dropped the bound book to the ground and crossed the room to glare at it like it was the poisonous spider she couldn't bring herself to get close enough to kill. Eventually she had picked it up and look at the cover page beneath the note, but she outright refused to look any further until she conferred with her friend who of course had been informed of the scandalous situation ad nauseum.

"Heat Wave by R. Castle?" Lanie read from the cover page. Turning towards her friend she asked. "Is this some sort of book?"

"Yes," Kate growled through gritted teeth. "By Richard Castle."

Lanie blinked. "Richard Castle? As in Rick, that guy who was your fake android?"

"That's the one."

A smile slowly appeared on Lanie's face. "Oh…so do you think this is the book he wrote after he spent time with you?"

"Seems a safe assumption," Kate said. Over five months had passed since she last saw the man who had forced his way into her life under the false pretense that he wasn't human. She supposed that was how long it took to write a book…or was it longer? Well, maybe he had taken longer because it stood to reason he had written some of it before they parted, especially from the way he worded his last sentence to her. Regardless—it didn't matter as she never wanted to think about or speak to him again.

Lanie leafed through some of the pages before asking, "Did you read any of it?"

"No. I was actually thinking about throwing it away."

"Why? You like his books."

Kate scoffed. "But now I don't like him."

"Right."

Lanie turned her head presumably to hide her eye-roll, but Kate still saw it and pulled the book from her hands, challenging, "No—don't. I know you don't think it was that bad, but I'm sorry; I just cannot ignore two years of deception. _Two years,_ Lanie." They had gone through the discussion again and again and while Lanie had initially been shocked, her foremost emotion then turned to amusement and intrigue. Unlike Kate, she had rarely come in contact with a living male (not that a murderous male was much more preferable) so she was completely fascinated by them, and encouraged her friend to accept Rick's apology and move past the frustration of their initial time together.

Sighing, Lanie tilted her head slightly to the side. "I know; I get it. And maybe I'd feel differently if I was in your shoes but, from over here? Just… how many men do you know Kate—how many human men?"

"My father. Montgomery. That captain of the seventh precinct… Hamond, I think."

"If you don't know his name, you don't know him," Lanie pointed out. "Plus, all three of them are nearly double your age."

Kate planted a fist at her hip. "What's your point?"

Lanie reached out and patted her hand atop the book. "Rick Castle is a man who is your age. The first you've ever met who isn't a criminal I'd hazard to guess."

"So?"

"So maybe don't write him off so quickly. Maybe don't throw away his book. Maybe don't cut him out of your life until you've introduced him to your friends, who might want a shot of having real sex in their life."

"I thought Charlie rocked your world," Kate said, speaking of the male android Lanie preferred at the brothel she visited weekly.

With a rather tragic sigh, Lanie said, "He does, but I'm also certain a real man would be better."

Kate shivered at the mere thought. "I have not now, nor will I ever be interested in doing _that_ with Rick."

Lanie laughed. "This isn't about you—what about me? But sex talk aside: read the book, Kate. I know you; I know you're curious both because you've liked his other books and because this is the one he wrote while doing research with you."

"Around me. With implies consent."

Rolling her eyes even more dramatically, Lanie said, "Just read the damn book, okay? And then send him a thank you note that also asks him out to dinner, and I'll show up instead of you."

Kate couldn't help but chuckle. "You're incorrigible."

She shrugged. "I know. At least think about reading it, okay?"

Kate nodded. "Okay." Then, she slipped the book back in her bag, said goodbye to her friend, and pushed any and all thoughts of Richard Castle from her mind; she needed to get to work.

* * *

Standing in the hall in front of the penthouse apartment (of course it was the penthouse apartment!) of that Broome Street loft building, Kate wiped her clammy palms against her jeans. Her heart was beating much faster than normal and she hated that—she hated the way that he riled her up and set her on edge. She hated herself even more for giving in to the curiosity and not only reading part of his book, but then going to the trouble of looking up his address using the NYPD database.

God—what a disaster!

But she had to speak to him. She had to confront him. She'd already spent over a week seething on her own and was more than a little sick of the persistent ache in her gut. She needed the closure—then she'd be done.

Setting her jaw, Kate stepped up to the door and pressed her finger down sharply on the doorbell button. She wrapped both arms tightly around the bound book she held, pressing it tightly against her breast as she waited. And waited. And waited for several minutes until she began to think that her trip had been a mistake. Maybe he wasn't at home. Maybe he didn't regularly live in his New York apartment, but at his home in the Hamptons instead. She certainly wasn't going to drive all the way to Southampton just to check. Should she then simply give up and walk away? She had his phone number; calling was another option, but she felt they deserved a face-to-face resolution instead of and over-the-phone one.

Just as she was about to walk away, the door swung open to reveal the rather surprised face of her former android. When she gazed down at his body, she also felt surprised, for he wore a knee-length robe and seemingly nothing else. Upon closer examination, his hair did appear to be damp, which meant she interrupted his shower. _Great_.

"H-hi," she said a bit dumbly.

"Kate! I…wow, I didn't expect to see you here," he said, leaning his shoulder against the now open door. "Sorry for the wait—I just got out of the shower."

"I can come back," she offered.

He shrugged. "You're here now. Can you give me two minutes?"

She nodded in confirmation and then stepped into the apartment when he moved aside. After shutting the door, he told her he'd be back soon, and that she could sit down if she wanted. Then he disappeared into a nearby door that she assumed led to his bedroom and bath.

Kate remained in the entryway for several moments, not wanting to sit down as it implied a level of comfort with the situation that she certainly did not possess. That, however, did not mean she ignored the opportunity to observe (okay, spy on) his space. While it was one of the largest she'd ever seen and decorated mostly with dozens and dozens of books, Kate's overwhelming emotion was that the apartment seemed rather empty and sad. Yes, there was plenty of furniture, but very little seemed personal—almost as though she had entered a hotel room and not someone's home.

Just two minutes later Rick returned wearing jeans and a plaid button-down though he was still barefoot. In his hand he held a small towel which he continued to rub over his hair and scalp. "Sorry about that," he said to her, but she shook off his concern. "It, um, it's nice to see you; I should have said that before, but can I ask…why are you here?"

She nodded, happy for the invitation to get down to the purpose for her visit. "I received the copy of your book and, to be entirely honest, I'm a little upset."

Another surprised expression crossed his face. "Oh really? Why?"

"Because…well—the book is about me!" she proclaimed, still flustered. She vividly remembered then the utter horror she'd felt as she turned page after page only to see more of herself reflected in the title character, Nikki Heat. A week later none of the rage had subsided; she simply felt violated—not to mention caught completely off guard.

The writer skimmed his fingers over his chin. "Well, I wouldn't say about you so much as inspired by."

Holding the packet of pages out in front of her she said, "Well I would really prefer if you altered some of the details before publishing."

He cringed. "Oh, well, see that's the thing—the book is being published; it's already been approved by-"

"Oh my god," she interrupted as the blood boiled in her veins. She threw her hands up and paced on the spot. "I cannot believe I thought I was done being betrayed by you."

"Wait—hang on—betrayed?" he questioned with confusion.

"Yes, betrayed. You lied about who you were for two years and now this! Why didn't you tell me about this book?"

"Well." He dipped his gaze towards the ground and gave a shrug reminiscent of the one he probably gave his mother when being scolded as a child. "You were already really mad at me and I didn't think this would make it any better."

"You don't say!" she snipped.

They remained silent for several moments before Rick asked tentatively, "But you read it right? All of it?"

She clicked her tongue with irritation. "No; only the first three chapters." That was all the further she got before the comparisons between herself and Nikki became nearly overwhelming. Those combined with a few other issues had made it nearly impossible for her to continue.

"Then might I suggest you read a little more?"

Folding her arms over her chest once more she said, "No. I don't want to. I don't want to read any more of your…your…" Unable to come up with a proper descriptor, she merely let out a grunt of frustration and shoved the bound book into his chest demanding, "Why did you do this?"

He merely gave her a small smile as he held the finished book in his hands. "Because you inspired me You're an extraordinary person and I've never met anyone like you."

Confused at how someone as deceptive as he could utter a genuine compliment, she narrowed her eyes asked, "What does that even mean?"

He took a half step forward and tucked the book under one arm, so he could tick off reasons on his fingertips. "You're strong and independent, but you have a big heart, a huge capacity for caring and love. You're one of the best detectives in the NYPD because of that heart, and an incomparable drive stemming from your mother's murder, I imagine. You'll leave no stone unturned to find justice, but yet you still fight an internal battle thinking that you're not doing enough. Even if there were more men in this world, you wouldn't need one to fulfill you. You challenge everyone around you, making them want to be better—at least, that's what you did to me."

At his words, Kate suddenly found herself struggling to breathe. Her abdomen tightened and diaphragm fluttered as though it had forgotten how to expand and contract her lungs. She stared at Rick with his sparking blue eyes and kind smile, and really took him in as a human being for the first time: the curves and edges of his face, the way his hair flopped against his forehead, the crinkle of skin between his eyebrows. Momentarily forgetting how he had lied to her, she wondered if all human men were like this one, but then she supposed not as most human women varied greatly.

In trying to process his words, Kate found herself flummoxed. True, she had been paid compliments before—many times, in fact—but this was more of a full assessment of herself; of her being. Most disturbingly, he was absolutely spot-on with most of his assessments, which was unnerving to her because she had no idea how he'd been able to figure so much out while simply being her household android. "You, um," she cleared her throat as her voice sounded hoarse. "You got all that from two days a week?"

He quirked his lips in a playful manner. "Plus a little more of my own research, yes."

"I…" Her voice drifted off as she remained entirely uncertain what to say. Instead, she took a small walk around the foyer, trying to clear her mind, though thinking about his time in her home, one persistent question did manager to escape her lips. "How…how'd you get so good at being an android?" As a cop she believed herself to be highly observant but were it not for the cut on his skin, she might not have figured out who he truly was.

"My mother's an actress; it's in the genes I suppose."

"And you were an android for other women, too, right?"

He bobbed his head. "In the beginning, yes; two others."

She nodded and continued to pace as she processed. On one of her lops, Kate caught sight of a photograph hanging on the wall beside a set of stairs. She walked over to find it depicted a younger version of the man before her standing beside a red-headed older woman. "Your mother?" she asked, pointing to the picture. When he confirmed, she asked, "Do you live with her?"

"She lives with me. That is, when she's not touring, she stays here since it's more convenient than maintaining her own place."

"Touring?"

"Traveling plays and such; she's been doing that a few years now."

Kate nodded and continued to walk around. Only when she caught sight of one of the books authored by R. Castle—one of the titles she happened to own—did she remember that author and Rick were one in the same. That connection in her mind spawned several more curiosities, one of them glaring. "If…if that's only been a few years, why does the author summary of your older books say you live in New York with your family."

"Because when that book was published I did."

She arched her brow at him. "You had a wife?"

"Yes."

"Children?"

"A daughter."

"Where are they?"

He huffed out a breath and slid his hands down into the pockets of his jeans. "I have no idea where my ex-wife is and frankly I didn't care because she's the reason our daughter is dead."

His final word hit her like a punch to the gut and Kate realized with horror what she had been doing: needling him, asking any and all questions that popped into her head as she tried to find answers; she had been treating him like one of her suspects, but that was wrong. "I…I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to-"

He shook off her apology and said, "It's okay; it was a long time ago. Nearly a decade now."

"I shouldn't have asked all those questions."

He merely looked amused. "It's okay; you were in interrogation mode. I understand."

Knowing she needed to bring their visit to a close before she upset the situation even further, Kate walked over and stood directly in front of him. "Can you really not make any changes to the book?"

Rick thought a moment. "Well, it's in final review with the editors, so theoretically I could if…if there was something specifically personal you wanted me to remove."

She shook her head. "It's not that—not just that. I…well, I saw a few things that were wrong about police procedure."

His brow lifted. "Really? What?"

"About what we do with a suspect between arrest and questioning. There could be more in later chapters and I, um, I could help you correct them." Did she really want to spend a lot more time with her former android? Not exactly, but nothing irritated her more than reading a book that used blatantly incorrect police procedure. If she had the opportunity to correct such a book and ignored it, she would be even more annoyed with herself. Plus, she had just inadvertently dredged up his tragic past and figured helping him might be a way of making amends.

"Oh!" He seemed surprised at first, but then he grinned at her. "I'd really appreciate that."

"Okay. I'll call you after I get my schedule for next week and we can set something up."

"You don't have my phone number," he pointed out.

She smiled at him. "Yes, I do; I found it along with your address."

He chuckled. "Okay."

She nodded to him and then took the book from his outstretched hand. She had walked halfway towards the exit when the other reason for her visit dawned on her. Spinning back around she said, "Oh…one more thing. I realized I never appropriately thanked you for saving my life—when that crane arm fell. So, thank you."

His brow rose as though he had almost entirely forgotten about the incident. "Oh, it…of course, Kate. I was just glad you were ok."

She nodded and then opened the door before saying, "I'll be in touch," and walking out into the hallway.

* * *

 **A/N** : Thank you all so much for reading

i'm so glad to hear you are all equally if not more excited about this one - to be honest i was too!

Also thanks to Travis for the cover art!


	3. Chapter 3

**THREE**

"Thank you so much for doing all this—and sorry it took so much longer than expected!"

Kate merely shrugged as she gazed across the table at Rick. Though her visit was only supposed to last "an hour or so" she wasn't even the slightest bit mad she had been there well over double that time. Actually, the whole afternoon had been rather fun in that it was something entirely different for her. While her work-life was everchanging, she did feel she could get into a rut with her personal time and spending a few hours helping Rick improve the details of his book had been a welcome change.

Before she arrived that afternoon, Kate had felt slightly apprehensive about how their meet-up would go. She went in with the mindset of focusing on the work and had even written down the specific pages on which she found issues in the first ten chapters of the novel—all that she had read to date. Honestly, there weren't many issues. Someone completely unfamiliar with policework would have noticed nothing out of place, so Kate thought the work wouldn't even take an hour. Then, with each change she suggested, Rick fired off half a dozen questions of his own in order to seek more clarity or detail. As she loved her work, Kate didn't mind providing answers, and soon found herself actually enjoying their banter and conversation to the point where she began to wonder if Rick was not in fact the lunatic she had labeled him to be.

"Don't worry about it; I actually rather enjoyed myself."

He closed the lid on his laptop computer and glanced again at his watch. "Still, time really got away from us. You…you wouldn't want to stay for dinner, would you? As a thank you, I mean."

"Oh, no," she said reflexively. "I don't want to put you out."

He smiled at her. "No trouble. I have more than enough for two in the crockpot."

When Rick got up from the table and walked into the kitchen, Kate followed out of insuppressible curiosity. Before arriving that evening, she would have immediately refuted such an invitation, as she had wanted to keep her relationship with Rick professional and superficial due to his prior betrayals. After their two hours together, however, she no longer had such strong feelings—especially since her belly was feeling rather empty.

"I have beef stew here and some frozen bread I was going to put in the oven so it got nice and crispy."

"Oh." Kate actually let out a small whimper when Rick lifted the lid off the crockpot and the rich scent wafted beneath her nostrils. "I have missed your beef stew…"

He grinned. "Well then you have to say. Go on have a seat; the bread shouldn't take too long."

"Can I help with anything?"

His winning smile growing a little larger he said, "You've already helped more than enough today. Go on; sit."

She moved to the bar stool he gestured to and sat as he asked. Then, resting her hands on the counter, she patiently watched him lay the bread out on a baking tray, brush it with some butter, and then pop it into the oven. He then retrieved bowls, plates, and utensils from various spots in his kitchen before setting the places at the table they'd vacated. Kate then excused herself to the bathroom and when she returned found him ladling the stew into their bowls. Her mouth now salivating, she took a seat at one of the places before waiting for him to sit so she could dig in.

When the first bite melted in her mouth, she let out a hum of contentment. "You really are a great cook."

He chuckled. "You sound shocked, yet you ate my dinners for two years. Oh, hang on—I forgot the wine. Red okay?"

"Sure. And you are an impressively good cook; remember I thought I was eating a pre-programed android's meals. It's even more surprising now that I know you're human."

He returned with a glass of wine for each of them before taking his seat once more. "Thank you, but I don't think about that much; it's quite instinctual now since I've virtually always done the cooking—mostly as a means of survival. My mother can barely boil water without burning it."

"Well, it's still impressive," she said. They ate in silence for a few more minutes before she turned to him, glass of wine in hand and asked, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"I've always wondered what it would be like to grow up as a man. I mean…was it strange? I assume you didn't have any or many male friends."

"Ah, yes and no. You're correct in that in school there was really only one other male around my age at a time—one a few years older, another a few years younger. I wouldn't say I didn't have males in my life, though. Because of my mother's work in the theatre, I was around a decent number of them—they were just her age."

She sipped the wine and pointed out, "You didn't mention your father."

"Because I never met him; he and my mom split up before I was born."

Kate briefly turned away from him to hide her cringe; once again she had stumbled upon a darker part of his history without intending to. "I'm sorry; that must have been hard."

He gave a little shrug. "Never knew any different."

"Still…I can't imagine not having females around my age to be friends with."

"That's because you basically know nothing but females; its your norm." He pointed out. "My life is normal to me."

She nodded, accepting this to be true, hard as it was to conceptualize. She thought back to her own childhood days where she had dozens of friends to pal around with, and how equally fascinated they were by the lone male classmate of theirs. "I remember the one guy in my school got so much attention."

He let out a breathy laugh. "Hmm…yes. I'd love to sit here and tell you that it was awesome—I could have any girl I wanted and then some. And, don't get me wrong—it wasn't bad. And probably if you'd asked me when I was eighteen my answer would have been different but now… now I know being unique isn't always the best."

She leaned her forearms against the table, curious. "In what way? I'd say I don't mean to pry, except you already did that in my life."

He nodded his head. "Fair enough." He took a drink from his wine glass and swirled the remaining liquid around pensively before beginning his response. "I suppose it was pretty much as you'd imagine. All the girls wanted to hang out with me, wanted me to sit with them at lunch. I soaked it all up like any highly hormonal male would have, but with the girls at school it was mostly flirting. Not to sound immodest, but there were some fights over me—I mean physical altercations—and I didn't want to encourage that. It was…stressful since I'm the type of person who very much likes everyone to get along.

"Anyway, um, I spent a lot of time backstage in theatres on weekends and in the evenings—with my mother and whatever cast she was working with. I ended up losing my virginity at fifteen in a dressing room with a girl staring as my mother's daughter in a show."

"Oh." She reacted with a cringe and did a poor job of hiding it. Thankfully, he did not seem offended.

"Yeah, in hindsight not one of my prouder moments. Actually, one of the least. At the time, I didn't mind it so much—sex was pretty awesome—but within two years I noticed a pattern. The women wanted me for sex, but they didn't want _me_. I was mostly with older women at that point and they loved the sex, but they never wanted to go to a movie or just talk. I'd go back to school and realize that there again I was a novelty people were fascinated by, but they never wanted to dive more than skin deep. Sure, there were some women who wanted to be with me because of me—my ex-wife Meredith, at least in the beginning, was one of them… but I found it so hard to trust when I found it. Were they just putting on a good front or did they really care? I still wonder that sometimes."

Kate pressed her lips together as she considered his words, feeling at an absolute loss to relate to them. Sure, now and then she'd run into a coworker or fellow student who seemed disingenuous, but that was few and far between. Of the women she befriended, she felt all were very kind and trustworthy, so his experiences felt quite foreign. Then again, she had heard from others that love and sex complicated things—something she had never personally experienced—so she recognized that as a contributing factor. Still, one prominent thought emerged from the rest. "That sounds very lonely."

He hummed. "It certainly could be, thought to be honest it was a bit of a self-imposed vicious cycle for a while—after Meredith and I divorced, I mean. I'd be with someone, it would blow up, I'd retreat and remain on my own only to repeat the pattern again. So many women in the world…guess I just haven't found the right one yet."

She gave him a small smile and hoped that he would find that person for himself one day. Then, after finishing her wine, she gathered up her bowl and utensils and said, "Let me help you clean these up."

"Sorry I brought down the mood."

She glanced over her shoulder and refuted his apology. "No, no; I asked and you gave an honest answer. Don't feel bad. For the record: I…" She paused to place her dishes by the sink and then turn around to face him. "I struggled to trust people too after my mother was murdered."

He put his dishes down beside hers and said, "They never found her killer, right?"

"No."

"And you hate that feeling, which is why you dedicate your life to solving other's crimes, so no other family has to feel like you did. Sorry."

Though he apologized, the damage had been done; she could already feel the heat creeping into her cheeks. Turning away, she cursed under her breath for letting her guard down so much with him. True, it had been while she thought he was a computer chip, not an intuitive human, but he had figured her out immensely, and given how little she still knew about him, she was not comfortable with that. "No—it's, um, fine it's just…getting late. I should go."

"Okay, well thanks again for your help. Let me know when you're ready to review the rest, okay?"

"Mmhmm." She then threw a wave back over her shoulder before quickly escaping his apartment. Staying for dinner? What had she been thinking!

* * *

"And…done! Perfect!" Rick glanced at Kate over the top of his laptop screen and smiled genuinely at her. "Thank you so much for all your help."

She gave a little shrug and stood from the chair on the opposite side of his desk. "It really wasn't a problem to help you—knowingly," she added with a pointed look.

He bobbed his head. "I deserved that."

Clasping her hands in front of her, Kate walked over to gaze out the window of his office, curious if the rain had cleared up in the hour she'd spent with Rick. They had gone through the second half of his novel, which had less inaccuracies than the first so their time together had been relatively brief. In the end, Kate somewhat begrudgingly admitted to loving the book. The character he created was strong, independent, smart, and talented. Though she may have been bias as the character began as a partial reflection of herself, by the end of the story Nikki Heat truly had taken on her own personality, and Kate was sure she would have enjoyed the story even if she hadn't been a part of its origin.

Upon seeing that the rain had been reduced to drizzle, Kate spun around, intent on collecting her jacket and continuing on with her day but stopped when she caught sight of a photograph displayed near the window. The silver frame sat among the many books displayed on shelves lining the walls of the office. The frame contained a picture of an infant girl, clearly asleep. She had an adorable button nose and a few wisps of strawberry blonde hair atop her head. Though initially Kate wanted to smile, remembering that the girl was no longer alive made her heart ache.

Turning around, she asked, "Is this a picture of your daughter?"

He nodded with a wistful smile. "Alexis."

"How old was she?"

"In that picture? A few weeks, maybe. She only lived for ninety-three days."

Kate gasped slightly at the short time period. Somehow in her mind she had assumed the girl lived to be a toddler, but she in reality she'd barely made it out of the newborn stage. In that moment, Kate wasn't sure what was worse. "May I ask what happened?"

"Officially? SIDS. Unofficially…" He sighed heavily, giving his head a shake. "That's a longer story."

She took a few steps towards him and offered, "I have time."

He nodded and walked around his desk so that he could lean against the front of it while she stood several feet away. "Ah… so, Meredith was an actress. Met her through my mother; they did a play together. I…had a crush on her I guess you could say."

"How old were you?"

"'bout twenty when we met. Little older when she, my mother, and their troupe talked me into writing them a play. Shortly thereafter Meredith and I got together officially. She was fun, spunky, and was really enthusiastic about my writing especially the play I wrote. Ah, anyway, same old story I suppose—we fell in love, got married."

"Had a baby," she continued for him, but he shook his head.

"Not exactly. Yes, we had the baby, but I mean—Meredith was really focused on her career; our pregnancy was unintentional. We…we never really talked about having kids, but you know the way everything is—it was assumed, at least on my end. I wanted kids. I…I loved being a father. Meredith did not love being a mother. I never saw it before…crazy as it seemed. She was so self-centered, and you can't do that as a parent—you have to be selfless when it comes to your child."

Kate could hear the bitter edge in his voice and swallowed, bracing herself for the tragedy that was about to come.

"Within the first few weeks of Alexis's life it became clear I would need to be her primary caregiver and I didn't mind—truly. I loved her. She was fascinating and adorable, and I couldn't wait for her to grow and develop and…and I never got to see any of that."

He skimmed his hand over his chin and was silent until she prompted, "What happened?"

He took another moment for himself before continuing. "It was winter… February. A bitter, freezing cold and windy day. Alexis was too small to take out in that kind of weather, but we needed groceries, diapers. I told Meredith she either had to go to the store or watch Alexis. She chose the latter, so I put Alexis in her arms, left…and by the time I got home she was gone." His voice ended on a harsh whisper and Kate could feel tears burning behind her eyes at the obvious emotion in the man's face.

"Meredith told everyone that Alexis just stopped breathing, but a few nights later I heard her say that she put Alexis down on the couch, not in her crib or her bassinette. I think Alexis rolled into a pillow and suffocated."

"Why would you think that?"

He looked her straight in the eye and behind the moisture droplets collecting in his lids, Kate could clearly see rage. "Because a few weeks before I'd witnessed Meredith do the exact same thing, only I'd been there to stop it."

Kate felt her stomach roll in her gut and she whispered out, "I'm so sorry, Rick. I cannot even imagine how heartbreaking that was for you."

"Yeah. It…It made me not want to live. Not in a suicidal way, just a reclusive one. I threw myself into my books, my work and didn't feel very much like emerging for about seven years."

"Why did you?"

He gave her a wry smile. "My mother yelled at me."

Kate couldn't help but chuckle. "Oh."

"Rightfully so, though—I knew it was time to rejoin the world, but I was struggling to find a project I was passionate about."

"Is that when you decided to become an android?" she asked after a moment of thought.

He laughed and folded his arms over his chest, confessing, "Actually, the fake android project was idea number three after the first two failed to be interesting. If nothing else I'm grateful it got me out of my funk."

She gave him a smile. "I am too." They gazed at each other for a moment before Kate felt a prickling sensation at the back of her neck and she said, "I, ah, I should be going…"

"Yeah absolutely. Thank you again, so much. I know I don't deserve your kindness after what I did to you, but I appreciate it all the same."

Plucking her coat off the back of her chair, she told him seriously, "Everyone deserves kindness. But I am glad I could help. I, um, I guess I'll…I'll see you, Rick."

"Yeah, I—I'll send you a final copy of the book, okay?"

She nodded. "I'd like that. Have a good evening."

He smiled. "You too."

* * *

 **A/N** : so glad you are all enjoying this

remember: daily updates will continue through the weekend!


	4. Chapter 4

**FOUR**

Sitting at her desk at the NYPD's Twelfth precinct, Kate busily clicked her way through a variety of screens in the department's database trying to gather all the information she needed to fill out the warrant request form for her latest armed robbery suspect. She focused so intently on the screen in front of her that she paid almost no attention to her surroundings, not even when someone stepped right up to the side of her desk and quit walking. She was also entirely oblivious to the fact that the entire office's attention was on now focused on her and her visitor—at least, until said visitor rapped his knuckles against the side of her desk to draw her attention.

"Hang on," she grumbled, still not tearing her eyes away from her computer screen while she scribbled down the address of the female in question on a spare piece of paper so she could key it into the warrant request screen.

"Take your time."

The deep, obviously male voice caused what felt like a harpoon to her heart. She stopped writing, dropped her pen, and gazed up with her jaw hanging. She blinked for several moments in utter disbelief because surely—surely—she was hallucinating. Surely her eyes were mistaken because _surely_ Richard Castle was not standing beside her desk wearing a dopey grin.

"Sorry, is this a bad time?" he asked cheerfully.

"I…uh…I…" she stammered for several seconds before she was able to close her mouth, take in a deep breath, and focus. "What—what are you doing here?"

"I was hoping we could talk if you have a moment. I didn't want to show up at your place—thought that would be too invasive, all things considered—but I did have a question for you. If you're busy, though, I can come back—or wait. I'm flexible."

"I, um, just hold on a second." She quickly finished scribbling down the suspect's address and then logged off the NYPD Database so that her computer screen showed no sensitive information. Then she stood with the intent of pulling Rick into one of the conference rooms so they could have a somewhat private conversation, but that thought evaporated from her mind when she realized that the entire floor of women was staring in her direction, each of them gaping rather (in her opinion) rudely. Honestly! It was as though they had never seen a man before!

"Come with me." She instructed him, leading the way around the corner to one of their small seating areas used to hold victims' families, or anyone else that needed to visit, but not be interrogated. She hoped one of the two rooms was empty and available to them, but before she could even discover that she nearly ran smack into her superior officer. "Oh! Sorry!" Kate said quickly while trying not to groan at her own distracted state.

Her captain smiled slowly and folded her hands in front of her. "No problem, Detective Beckett; I wasn't aware you were working with someone on a case."

"Oh, um, no—I'm not. I mean, I am working a case, but this isn't—I, um-"

"I think what Detective Beckett is trying to say is that I'm her friend Rick Castle; pleasure to meet you."

Though normally Kate would have been irritated by anyone swooping in to the middle of her conversation, she was grateful that Rick had enough sense to save her from her embarrassing stammering. Sadly, she was certain her captain would bring it up once again at a later date as she was rarely one to be flustered.

"Captain Victoria Gates; nice to meet you." Gates shook the man's hand and then gazed at Kate with a small amount of shock. "I wasn't aware you had a male friend, detective."

"Ah, yes, well, um it's—it's a new…thing." She finished dumbly, using all the strength she could muster not to cover her face with her hands and wish that she could disappear into the floor.

"Perhaps I spoke prematurely," Rick continued. "Kate and I aren't so much friends as acquaintances. She kindly helped me with some research for my latest book and I came here hoping I could take advantage of that kindness one more time."

When he gave her a hopefully look, Kate felt her chest constrict. Take advantage of her kindness again? What did that even mean?

Before she had a chance to ask, Gates interjected, "Sorry—are you a writer?"

"Yes, I publish mystery novels under the name R. Castle. My latest book is due out in a few months and the central character is a strong, independent, whip-smart NYPD officer not unlike Detective Beckett."

"Really?" Gates said with utmost curiosity as she glanced between Kate, who was certain her cheeks were bright red, and the writer. "That sounds very interesting."

Rick plastered on one of his winning smiles and said, "Well, I'll make sure you get a copy."

Gates nodded. "Thank you very much; it was a pleasure meeting you."

They shook hands before Gates walked away. Kate merely watched the entire exchange with mild disbelief. Once they were alone, she demanded of the writer, "What the hell is happening?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Your boss seems like a nice lady so-"

"No!" She interrupted and grabbed onto the arm of his jacket so she could guide him to the closest empty room. "Go!" she commanded, giving him a little shove. She entered the room behind him, shut the door, and then leaned back against it with her fingertips at her temples. God—what was happening?

Nearly three weeks had passed since she had seen him last and Kate was just beginning to feel like her life was getting back to normal. She had heard from him about a week prior via text. His message simply said that the changes to his book had been accepted and he thanked her again for her help. She hadn't even responded; she simply expected that to be the end of their communications for the foreseeable future, which, really, was for the best. She didn't need to be around him when being around him made her feel so…confused.

"I…I'm getting the feeling that you're upset."

She gave him a pointed look. "Well I'm on my way to there depending on what you meant by 'taking advantage of my kindness.'"

He held up his hands in front of her and said, "Okay—hear me out, please. As I said, the changes were accepted by the editors and then the book was sent to higher ups at Black Pawn and, simply put: they absolutely loved it. They're actually preemptively ordering a Nikki Heat sequel before the first one is even released."

"Oh, um—wow. Congrats."

"Thank you, but see, the thing is—they really love the story because they think it will be inspiring to young women to be strong and empowered—to join the military or the police force. I agree with that, and I'm really excited about it, but, um, in order to write that effectively, I…well I was hoping to do a bit more research."

She blinked at him. "Research how?"

"By shadowing you…?" he suggested in a tone that made it half sound like a question.

Kate blinked again. "Shadowing me? Why…. why would you need to shadow me?"

"Well, you are Nikki's inspiration."

Kate grumbled and raked her hands back through her hair. "You hid in my house for two years—wasn't that enough research?!"

An offended look crossed his face. "Wow, that makes it sound far creepier than it actually-"

"RICK!"

"Right sorry—not the point. Please?" He folded his fingers together and held them up in front of him in a pleading manner. "Just a few cases."

Kate huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "I don't even know if that would be allowed."

Rick smiled and took two steps towards her. "Well, your captain did seem rather intrigued; I bet I could win her over—but only if it's okay with you."

If it was okay with her? If it was okay with her?! How would it be okay with her? She felt completely trapped. If she said no to him, it would feel like her fault if his second Nikki Heat book was less successful than the first (even if that thought was partly irrational because of course he could do general NYPD research with any of her colleagues). If she said yes, he would be disrupting her life—her work life, which was something she usually kept very, very organized.

"I…I just…I mean how much research would this even be?"

"Well, possibly a fair amount, but I'm willing to work around your schedule. The last thing I want to do is annoy you."

She shot him a look. "Too late for that."

"Hey," he retorted, half laughing. "Please Kate? Why don't we start with two weeks and-"

"Two weeks!" she balked. "No—how about two days."

A clearly annoyed expression crossed his face. "Not nearly enough—ten days."

"Four."

"Seven."

"Six."

"Nine."

"Se—hey!" she whined when he smiled proudly. "You can't up your number!"

He smiled. "But it almost worked, didn't it?"

She grumbled at how he had almost caught her. Realizing he would somehow get her in the end, she decided to give in. "Okay—seven days; seven non-consecutive days."

"Deal." He agreed, then he held out his hand so they could shake on the agreement. Reluctantly, she squeezed her hand around his and felt an uncomfortable feeling in her belly when he winked and said, "Don't worry, Kate; it's going to be great!"

Sitting in her police hover-cruiser with high-tech binoculars pressed to her eyes, Kate was trying her best to concentrate on the building halfway down the block. Using the amplified goggles, she could see heat signatures roaming around behind the walls like tall, rectangular blobs. She had no way of knowing if one of those blobs was the suspect she sought, but she had to wait on the off chance that individual came out and did something incriminating—like dispose of some of the goods they may or may not have stolen during a home invasion.

Sighing to herself, Kate lowered the binoculars and sat back in her seat. Stakeouts were boring; there was no way around that, but she didn't always mind them, especially since she didn't do them too often. Generally, she used the time to be alone with her thoughts and think through the case at hand while alternating observation using fancy technology. It could also be fun—particularly when it led to an arrest.

Just as she was about to lift the goggles up again, the tranquility of her vehicle was interrupted by an obnoxious crunching sound. Looking to her left, she saw her companion had somehow procured a package of potato chips and was munching on them loudly. Dropping the binoculars to her lap, she gazed at him incredulously. "Really?"

He blinked. "What? We've been sitting here for like an hour—I got hungry."

She shook her head with irritation. "Where did you even get those?"

He grinned and dropped the chip bag to his lap. "I came prepared. Want some?" he said, offering her a package of mixed nuts from one of his coat pockets.

She responded simply with, "I'm working," before turning back to the apartment building. She heard him mutter, "Doesn't mean you can't be snacking," but chose to ignore it.

That day was day five of their pre-arranged seven-day shadow/research agreement and Kate was quite pleased to be on the other side of the halfway point. Objectively, their time together hadn't been horrible. He had even, much to her utter shock, provided helpful insight during the prior case they worked together. Other than that, he was…well, annoying.

For some reason she could not explain, he always seemed to be moving: shifting in his seat, grabbing at things on her desk, writing things down in the small moleskin he kept in his jacket pocket. It drove her nuts! She just wanted peace and quiet to work on her cases, but no—he had to storm his way into them like a bull in a china shop, interrupting her interrogations with questions (that, okay, were mostly relevant) and speaking to the victims (in a surprisingly tactful way, now that she thought about it), but he was always there! Meddling! Thank goodness she'd had the wherewithal to mention the non-consecutive-days rule or she would have been driven over the edge completely!

"So…how long do we sit here?"

She didn't even lower the binoculars from her face as she said in an exhausted way, "As long as it takes."

"Oh. What's the longest you ever sat here?"

"I don't know…six hours."

"Six! Didn't you have to pee?"

Kate lowered the binoculars from her face and glanced over at him. "If you have to pee, you can go—I mean leave!" she quickly added before he took her suggestion too literally.

He pursed his lips. "I don't have to pee and obviously I would not go in this vehicle. I'm just…researching."

She scoffed. "So Nikki Heat is going to go on a stakeout?"

"Maybe; I don't know what her next adventures are yet. That's why I'm researching."

She put the binoculars aside and reached for her phone so she could quickly check to make sure she had so urgent messages. "Oh, is that why?" she muttered a bit flippantly, not really caring if he heard it or not, which he did.

"You agreed to let me shadow you."

"I know but…" She huffed. "I don't get it—what good is this for you? Visiting crime scenes at four in the morning…going on stakeouts…sitting with victims for hours. Why—Castle? Why are you here?" She simply could not fathom it.

Doing research on police procedure, even hearing about some of their active cases—that she could understand. He was not a police officer, nor had he been to the academy; how else would he know their procedures? He could have even interviewed some of her coworkers to get their perspectives; that would also make sense, but he was going beyond that. He participated in the drudgery, visiting the morgue and donning gloves to examine bodies—which he did with curiosity, not disgust. He never balked at early wake-up calls or late nights. And she had most certainly picked up on his anvil-sized hints that he wanted to continue his research past their seven agreed upon sessions, which baffled her even further. Why would a man with his wealth want more than a Q&A that could take place at his own convenience?

"I told you I'm doing research; I need to find out what its like to be a cop."

"By sitting and watching a building for hours?"

He shrugged. "If it's part of your duties, I want to know about it."

She sighed and lifted the binoculars to her eyes again. She scanned the building to see all the heat-signatures were in the same place, and they were. The duo then sat in silence for several minutes before Castle said, "Okay… maybe it's not all for research. Maybe…well, maybe part of me likes being involved in something that matters."

She turned her head sharply in his direction, unsure of exactly what he meant. "Something that matters?"

He lowered his gaze to his lap and picked at a stray thread on his jeans as he spoke. "I've always wondered if there was a reason that I was born when so many males were not—that maybe I had a higher purpose. I know that might in part be my overactive imagination at play, but its always a thought in the back of my mind. If I have a larger purpose, what is it? I know, I know—I've chosen a life writing stories instead of being a doctor or, I don't know, someone important in government—and I chose that because I was good at it; because it felt like something I was supposed to do, but sometimes… sometimes it just feels like I should do more; like I should be doing something that matters. This…this matters."

He gazed at her once more, his blue eyes steadily staring into her brown. "What you do matters, Kate, and what's more amazing is how good you are at it. Shadowing you…if I can even be the slightest help on one case—or maybe not even that. If I can write a book that inspires a young woman to join the police academy and then _she_ makes a difference then…well, then maybe my books aren't so silly after all."

Kate stared at him a moment in silence, not sure how to react to his words, until an uncomfortable feeling began to form in her belly. She had no choice but to conclude that she had greatly misjudged him. Castle wasn't there to annoy or irritate her. He wasn't even there to write a best-selling novel. He wanted to make a difference; he wanted to help, and that certainly was a noble goal.

She turned back to her observation for several minutes before lowering the binoculars once more and correcting his thought process, for she knew if she had experienced differently, so had others.

"For the record," she said as she turned to him, "what you do matters. Books—not just yours, but all books—can provide an escape. Someone who is having a rough time…maybe at work, maybe in their personal life—but they can pick up a book and find clarity, answers—a smile. What you do matters, Rick."

He gave her a smile, warm and genuine. "Thank you, Kate; I appreciate that."


	5. Chapter 5

**FIVE**

"Don't be mad."

Kate Beckett looked up from her computer screen and into the eyes of her partner of four months (technically five months, but it had taken her a full month of his off-and-on shadowing for her to officially accept him as her partner.) Reaching out, she accepted the cup he held out to her and cradled it in her hands like it was a precious commodity—which it was. "Why would I be mad? You brought me coffee."

"Well, yes, but," he paused to take a seat in the chair by her desk that had unofficially become "his," "the coffee is kind of a set up for this other thing I don't want you to be mad about."

Kate breathed in the delicious dark roast mixed with a hint of vanilla scent of the coffee he brought before taking a delicate sip. As it remained rather hot, she placed it aside and then turned to him with a rather exhausted expression. "Why do you always ask me not to be mad?"

Rick shrugged and simply said. "You seem to be mad a lot."

"Yeah? And whose fault is that?" she teased pointedly. The smile on his face didn't waiver. "Besides," she continued, "I think you're confusing 'angry' with simply 'annoyed.'"

"Okay," he countered. "Don't be annoyed then. Please?"

She arched one eyebrow at him and said, "I make no promises. What's going on?"

His smile growing a bit more hopeful, Rick slipped is hand into the left pocket of his blazer and pulled out a folded sheet of golden paper. He unfolded it and slid it across her desk so that she could read and examine it.

Kate picked up the page and held it at an angle to decipher the black and silver metallic writing. At the top, she noticed the logo of Rick's publisher, Black Pawn. Below it, she found the words, "Come Celebrate!" and below that there was reference to a time, location, and a place. Still a bit confused, she lifted her head and asked, "What is this?"

"Invitations to the _Heat Wave_ book release party. Well, I should say: a draft of one of the invitations to the party. This one is one of the mistake ones because it doesn't even say Heat Wave on it. Everything else on it is correct, though."

"Book release…party?" she parroted, with notable confusion as she had never heard of such an event.

He bobbed his head. "Yep. We haven't had one in a few years due to my reclusiveness—actually five years, now that I think about it. Regardless—my publishers think it would be a good idea given that this is the start of a new series."

"Oh." She gazed down at the paper once more to see the event was being held at a gallery adjacent to the Black Pawn main offices in Manhattan. Still unsure of why he was telling her all this, she merely slid the paper back to him and said, "Well, I hope it's fun—and gets you plenty of readers."

"Kate," he half-laughed, leaning his hands on the edge of her desk. "I'm showing you the invitation because I want you to come."

"O-Oh." She responded with great surprise as she had not seen that part of the conversation coming, though she probably should have.

"You don't have to," he quickly added, "but I would like you to if you're available."

Feeling rather put on the spot, Kate gazed down at the invitation once more to study the date and time and thereby give herself a few moments to think—to consider.

In the four months since she officially accepted him as her partner, Kate had certainly grown closer to her writer companion. They spent an average of three days a week together as he shadowed her under the guise of research. In reality, he was doing research, but also providing insight on her cases by way of an unpaid consultant position. Or, as he liked to call it, partnership.

When it came right down to it, Kate had never once considered expanding her agreement with Rick beyond their seven initial days until their conversation during outing number five, the stakeout. Hearing him express a desire for doing something that mattered and made a difference showed her that there truly was a kind, carrying side to this man that she'd refuse to acknowledge due to leftover bitterness from his android masquerade. Once she finally let go of such negative feelings she was able to see that not only was he a good person, but a helpful one as well. He thought outside the box and often challenged her to think in a different way which was why she ultimately agreed to let him continue to shadow her—permanently.

In addition to spending time together while working on her cases, they had occasional gotten together outside of her work environment. They had dinner twice and once even went to a street fair during which Lanie was _finally_ (in her words) able to meet the infamous Rick Castle. The more Kate learned about him as a person, the more she appreciated him being a part of her team. Given that, she didn't necessarily have a problem accepting an invitation to a party so much as the fact that the party involved the Nikki Heat book—something she had yet to become fully comfortable with as it hit a bit too close to home, and she was uncertain how his usual reading audience would react.

"Well, I mean… I don't think I have anything else going on that weekend; I'll have to check," she said, though her comment was a fib. Since when did she ever have fancy plans on a Saturday night?

"Great! It'll be really fun, plus there should be good food. At least, that's what they promised me. You don't have to feel obligated to stay the whole time or anything, but I'd really appreciate you stopping in at least. After all, if it wasn't for you, there'd be no Nikki Heat."

His sparkling grin made her cheeks heat uncomfortable and she simply said, "Well…I'll definitely try. Is, um, is the dress fancy?"

"Not too fancy. Cocktail. A lot of women from Black Pawn will be there. And the media."

"Media?"

"Yep, plenty of only news outlets, but don't worry. I've read your press briefings—you'll give a great speech; I'm sure."

Her heartrate spiked into the triple digits. "SPEECH!?"

He laughed and then winked at her. "Kidding. You don't have to interact with the press; I promise."

She grumbled. "Don't do that!"

He laughed again. "Sorry, but you're going to have fun, Kate; I promise. Now," he added as he stood up and straightened the lapels of his blazer, "I'm off to tour the crematory—how exciting is that?"

Kate could not help but let out a breathy laugh at his excitement, which, strangely, was genuine. "I know; Lanie told me. Have…fun? I guess. Don't fall into any ovens."

He smiled. "I'll try. See you tomorrow Kate!"

"Yeah…" her voice drifted off as she gazed down at the invitation once more, half-wondering what she'd gotten herself into. "See you…"

* * *

That Friday morning Kate walked into the morgue like a woman on a mission—because she was. She needed to get to a meeting halfway across town within an hour, but yet could not forget her most important errand to run: picking up the "killer" red heels Lanie had promised to lend her so that her black cocktail dress had an all-important pop of color along with it.

"Hey," she called out in a harried manner and spotted her friend at her desk in the corner of the room. When Lanie turned around, she did not wear her normal chipper grin, but instead one of annoyance as further indicated when her greeting was a snappy, "Girl—Imma smack you!"

Kate stopped walking immediately and her brow wrinkled. "Why? Is it not okay that I'm borrowing your shoes?"

"No, I don't care about the shoes," Lanie said while waving her hand flippantly towards the black bag seated near her feet. Peeking inside, Kate saw the red heels, so she picked it up and looped the handles over her wrist.

"Then why are you going to smack me?"

" _Becauseeee_ ," Lanie began dramatically as she stood and wrung out her hands. "When I specifically asked you if this was a date you were going on, you said no!"

"But…it's not a date."

Lanie merely blinked at her. "Kate!"

"It's not!" she insisted as the word "date" had never been mentioned by herself or Rick—she definitely would have remembered that.

"But you're going with him to a party."

"I'm going to a party; he will also be in attendance," she corrected.

Clearly frustrated, Lanie stamped her feet and said, "See! There! That's why I'm going to smack you! Kate!" She pleaded, reaching out to touch her friend's arm. "I don't understand. You have what every single person wants within your grasp, but you don't seem to want it at all."

Kate's brow wrinkled at she stared, utterly baffled, at her friend. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Rick! You and Rick! A couple!"

"Rick and I are not a couple."

"That's my point!"

Kate merely sighed and shifted her weight on her feet. "I'm not really sure what you expect me to say. If it's about the context of this party, he probably only invited me because I helped him with the book."

Lanie blinked at her. "Tell me you don't believe that."

Her upper lip twitched and she altered her answer slightly. "Because I helped him…and according to him inspired him to write the book in the first place…"

Lanie threw both hands above her head and groaned. "God, you are infuriating. I hope that deep down you know that Rick invited you to go to the party because he wants you to be there as his date—more than that, I imagine, but he's also afraid of scaring you."

She scoffed. "I very much doubt that. Why are you so fixated on Rick and I dating, anyway? I mean, you went out with him and said it wasn't interesting, so why would I be interested?"

Given her friend's fascination with human males, Kate was not even the least bit surprised when she heard Lanie invite Rick out for drinks after their afternoon at the street fair. She, admittedly, was slightly surprised when Rick agreed to go, but then simply wished them a good evening and returned to her apartment. The next time she saw him, two days later, Rick mentioned absolutely nothing about Lanie or their time together, so she tried to forget about it—and would have were it not for the persistent ache right in the center of her stomach a few inches above her bellybutton.

She tried her best to ignore the feeling until she gave in three days later and casually asked Lanie how things went with Rick. Lanie had told her that their evening together had been rather boring since they didn't have that much in common and said no more about it. As Kate could think of several dozen descriptors for Rick before "boring" would creep onto the list, she found this slightly confusing, but then decided dropping the subject was best, and hadn't mentioned it since.

"Well," Lanie began, briefly dropping her eyes to the floor, "I might not have been entirely honest about that?"

"You did find him interesting?"

"No, I didn't, but that's also because he spent half of our 'date,'" she said using air quotes, "talking about you! Then…well…" She cleared her throat and scuffed the edge of her shoe against the concrete floor. She was silent for almost a full minute before confessing, "Despite that, I still asked him to have sex at the end of the evening and he said no."

Kate's jaw dropped and she spluttered. "Wha…you never told me that before!"

Lanie practically snorted. "Well, throwing myself at him that way wasn't exactly one of my prouder moments. I know you have a crush on him—you do, don't deny it—and it was obvious he reciprocated from the way he talked about you but…I still wanted to see what it was like—especially since you certainly weren't rushing to jump into bed with him.

Deciding it was best to ignore her last comment, Kate asked instead, "What did he say? Was he at least nice about turning you down?"

Lanie groaned and ran one hand across the back of her neck. "Oh yeah, he was nice about it—overly nice in that way that made me feel even more of a moron just for asking. He…he said he was flattered, but that we should just stay friends, because he didn't want to mess up his chance with you."

"There's no way he said that."

"Were you there?" Lanie challenged; Kate felt her cheeks heat. Shaking her head Lanie said, "Sorry—you're not completely wrong. He said that it was best if we remained friends because he could tell that you and I were really close, and he didn't want to come between us."

Kate breathed in sharply when she connected those words with the ones she'd heard directly from Rick six months earlier. He had told her that during school his female classmates would fight over him and sometimes those fights would result in physical blows and he hated them. She had to assume that he knew that two mature adults such as herself and Lanie wouldn't start punching each other over him but having a verbal fight that ended their close friendship certainly was not outside the realm of plausibility—at least, in his eyes.

"But I…you know, he never said anything to me about…about maybe…"

Lanie smiled and spoke gently. "Did he have to, Kate? Last time I checked, people just don't hang around dead bodies for kicks."

"But he was doing research!" she blurted out, but the longer Lanie stared at her, Kate realized her face was becoming uncomfortably hot. "Oh god," she muttered, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth. As though sunglasses had just been ripped off her face, the world—and her life—became much brighter and clearer.

"I never intended… I mean, I thought he just wanted to shadow me and help. He said he wanted to help! He wanted to help people; to make a difference! So, I…I thought he could…but then…he's—he has to know I can never trust him again after"

"Please." Lanie dismissively waved her hand. "We both know you've forgiven him for all that fake-android nonsense. If you hadn't, you definitely would have kicked him to the curb after your original shadow agreement expired."

As Lanie's statement was completely on point, Kate could not argue, so instead her other fears began spilling out. "But I… I've never been in a relationship with a man before."

"None of us have."

"But he has. That is: he's been with other women. What if I… I mean, what if he doesn't think I…" Kate let her voice drift off as she covered her face with both hands absolutely hating the mixture of feelings brewing in her gut, making her feel sweaty and nauseous. "What if he doesn't like me?" she finally rasped out.

"Sweetie," Lanie began as she stroked her hands up and down Kate's arms. "He already does."

Kate sniffled back some tears and gazed at her friend. "No, I know, but…but what if he gets to know more of me and…and he doesn't…"

Frowning slightly, Lanie said, "You can't just have sex with him, huh?"

With a pathetic blip of laughter, Kate confessed, "Probably not. I just…I've read about it, you know—in those books from the early two-thousands. Men and women, when they're in relationships, they share all of themselves: hopes, fears, joy, heartache and….and that's not usually something I'm good at."

Squeezing her arm, Lanie said, "I think you're better at it than you think, but may I remind you: this is far from a marriage proposal. How about this? Go to the party tomorrow, maybe have a drink or two—or three—to loosen up but go there with an open mind. Rick cares about you; everyone can see that, so please— _please_ —give him a chance before all the women in your precinct beat you up."

Despite her sniffles Kate couldn't help but laugh. "Okay," she agreed. "I'll try."

Lanie clapped her hands together. "Yay. And don't forget that when you do have sex, I need all the details. ALL." She emphasized.

Laughing again, Kate merely said, "I gotta go Lanie; thanks for the shoes."

"Make sure they have a good time!" Lanie called out, but Kate had already disappeared out of the morgue.

* * *

 **A/N** : The next chapter will be the final fic chapter (with epilogue remaining) and it will be M rated!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Rating change to "M"**

* * *

 **SIX**

Stepping into the elevator in her apartment building, Kate caught the eye of the man at her side and felt herself blushing in his reflection. His ear-to-ear grin could easily be described as dopey and he'd been wearing it most of the evening. The fact that he continued to eye her across whatever room they were in had not been lost on Kate. She found it both flattering and nerve-wracking as every time she caught his eye and he turned away, she thought of the conversations she'd had with Lanie the prior day and took another gulp from whatever drink was in her hand. As the evening wore on, however, he stopped turning away when she met his eye and instead offered a wink or a head nod. At that moment, he simply gazed at her with awe.

"You're staring, Rick," she pointed out to him as she pushed the button to direct the elevator to her floor.

"Am not."

"Yes, you are." She corrected. "So what's with the look?"

"No look."

"Yes, there's a look."

He hummed and leaned his back against the elevator wall as the car ascended nearly twenty stories. "It's nothing, really. I'm just glad to see that you're smiling. Is it safe for me to assume this means you had a nice time?"

Wrapping her hands around her clutch purse a bit tighter, she said instead, "I had an interesting time." She didn't want to outright call it nice, as she had been slightly uncomfortable due to just how different an event it was for her. Plus, there was the fact that he had informed her of how beautiful she looked no less than three times. Kate supposed that the relaxed expression on her face was more a factor of the three and a half glasses of wine she had, because her stomach was certainly filled with butterflies in anticipation of what would happen after they arrived on her floor.

"Interesting, but good, right? Or…or did something happen? You—oh!" he groaned and smacked himself in the forehead as the car halted on floor nineteen. "You were talking to Gina a lot, weren't you? What did she say? Did she tell you about that time I lost the laser tag tournament to that seventeen-year-old with the knee brace? She always loves to bring that up…" He muttered, shaking his head.

"What?" Kate laughed as they stepped off the elevator. "When did you play in a laser tag tournament? And is that really a thing?"

"Sure it is; it's fun. And this was a few years ago. But if that isn't it…what were you talking about?"

Kate gave a little shrug. "A variety of things. Mostly you. I…Am I correct to assume that you were at one point a couple?"

He nodded in confirmation, and she slowed her walk as they rounded the last corner to her apartment building. "We were, but I don't know if I'd call us a couple. What we had was more like a fling. We're definitely better off as coworkers."

Kate hummed at this confirmation, which had not even been the slightest bit difficult for her to figure out. After the pleasantries of initial introductions were over, she recognized Gina's progressively interrogative tactics as ones she'd used on suspects. Gina was always polite, but clearly searching by asking subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) questions about who Kate was, how she met Rick, and how their partnership was going. Before she had arrived that evening, Rick had politely requested that she not reveal his double life as an android servant to anyone, and she kept her promise, simply brushing off Gina's meeting question by saying her father had introduced them, which technically wasn't even a lie. Regardless of the questions, it was obvious to Kate that she was being vetted and she supposed given Rick's wealth and mildly famous status she understood in part, though she also didn't think Gina's opinion necessarily mattered in whatever relationship she and Rick were about to embark on—or not embark on; she hadn't yet decided.

"She seemed quite protective of you."

"Oh, yeah… We've known each other for a long time—actually, we met around the time of my divorce. I had only published one book so I didn't have a full-time rep, yet; I shared one with several other authors. That rep was busy so she sent her intern—Gina, the recent college grad—to check on me, so, in a way, our friendship and working relationship actually began by her taking pity on me. But, anyway, because of that she gets concerned if she thinks that a woman might…"

"Break your heart?" Kate offered when he was silent for a moment.

He let out a breathy laugh. "Actually, I was going to say, 'just use me for sex or for my money.'"

Kates brow rose sharply. "She thought that about me?"

"Oh, no—please don't be offended; she thinks that about everyone," he said quickly. Then he pinched the bridge of his nose and apologized. "Sorry, I'm kind of making a mess of the end of this evening. Perhaps I should just say goodnight."

Kate felt her stomach clench as the moment—the one she both anticipated and feared—had arrived.

Despite the fact that she thought about the conversation she had with Lanie for the prior day, Kate had still not yet decided what would come of her relationship with Rick until not quite an hour earlier when the party was beginning to draw to a close. Kate had made the rounds after she escaped Gina and actually found an acquaintance to speak to for a decent amount of time. Though they said hello when she arrived and caught glimpses of one another, she had yet to actually speak to Rick despite it becoming rather late in the evening. As he invited her, she thought it rude to leave without at least talking to him, but it took time to get him alone as he was the man of the hour.

When they finally connected, she thanked him for inviting her and told him her plans to head out and he'd surprised her by saying, "If you wait ten minutes I can get my driver to take you home." She tried to refute, but he insisted, so she gave in. She waited near the exit, thinking the driver would meet her, but she was surprised once again when Rick walked over, took her arm and said, "Let's get out of here." When she countered with, "Are you allowed to leave yet?" he merely shrugged and said it was his party and then added, "Besides, what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn't make sure you got home safely?" With that, he put his hand at the small of her back and led her towards the hover-car.

Instantly, Kate was transported back in time to the last time he'd taken her home: after the falling crane piece had nearly killed them both, but they'd been safe—thanks to Rick. He had always cared for her even when she only thought of him as a machine. He was kind, thoughtful, and always made her laugh. Though the concept still made her nervous, Lanie's words forced her over the edge to decision making. Inviting Rick into her bed was not the same as a marriage proposal—and it was definitely an opportunity she would regret not taking if it went away.

"Actually," she began, mustering all the courage she could, "I was going to invite you inside."

Kate wished she'd had a camera ready to record the positively dumbfounded expression that formed on Rick's face as he stammered out, "You—ah—what!?"

She smiled and reached out to touch the lapel of his jacket. "Why do you sound so surprised? This is what you want, right?"

He swallowed hard. "I…um…"

"I mean," she continued, stepping closer so she could lay both her hands flat against his chest, "you did spend most of the night staring at me from across the room. Yes, I noticed that," she added when his eyes flared open.

"Well, you looked beautiful—gorgeous, but…" He dropped his chin and gazed at her cautiously from below his brow. "I thought I messed everything up by hiding who I was…"

"You've made an amazing comeback." With that, she raised up on her toes and brought her lips to his kissing him—a man—for the very first time. His hands landed on her waist, pulling her body closer to his and Kate immediately felt her heart stutter in her chest and tingles exploded out from her belly, traveling to her fingertips and toes.

Kate felt a giggle rise up and bubble from her lips when she pulled back and turned so she could unlock her front door with the four-digit code. She opened the door and had barely stepped over the threshold when she felt his hands against her waist once more. She spun around just as he kicked the door shut behind them and lowered his mouth to hers once more. "Oh…Kate…" he sighed in between their feverous kisses. "You're amazing."

"Not so bad yourself," she muttered before sliding her hands under the edges of his jacket and moving them to the tops of his shoulders so she could help push the jacket from his body. It landed on the floor with a thump and she raked her nails down the firm muscles of his back. He felt so strong and solid, which only further fueled her interest in ridding him of his clothing.

"Mmm wait wait…oh god hold on." He peeled her hands away from the buttons on his shirt and forced a foot of distance between them while wiping his hands down across his chin, clearly needing to take a breath.

"What is it?"

"There are some things we should…I mean before we…" He shook his head, clearly struggling to think clearly. Finally, he sucked in a deep breath, held it with his eyes closed for ten seconds, and then opened his eyes as he pushed the breath out. "We can't be intimate without some kind of birth control."

"Oh, I take that. Controls my symptoms," she explained. Though with the reduction in the male population, and thus the reduction in opportunity for pregnancy, some women did abandon their hormonal birth control, over fifty percent of women continued on because of its other advantages and Kate was among that group.

"Oh. Okay, but um…You've never been with a human before, right?"

She merely shrugged. "Does that matter?"

"That means no."

While she didn't want to come right out and say it, she knew it wasn't that much of a secret simply because of her extreme lack of opportunity. Still, she didn't want him judging her for something that was very largely out of her control. "So what? Why does that matter?"

He held up his hand defensively. "Please don't get upset—I'm just checking."

Her embarrassment manifesting as annoyance, Kate folded her arms over her chest and retorted with, "Well I haven't. And I don't use androids either; they freak me out."

"Why?" he asked, his tone ringing of genuine curiosity not judgement. "I've seen videos; some are quite impressive replicas."

Kate suppressed a shiver at her one and only memory of such an establishment. "But you have to program them for what you want and like and it's strange to me." Wanting to turn the conversation away from her sexual history (or lack thereof), she stepped up to him again and whispered, "This isn't." But he stopped her before they could kiss again.

"Hang on." He placed his hand on her shoulder, keeping her at arm's length. "That…that means you've never…"

"It really doesn't matter."

"It does."

"No, it—oh!" Kate gasped when she stumbled over the edge of the rug in her apartment's main seating area. She had been trying to walk away from him out of frustration, but evidently moved too carelessly.

"Careful." He reached out to steady her, but she brushed his hand away.

"I'm fine—my heel just caught this rug and—I'll just take them off." She leaned over to take off her left shoe, but stumbled again, that time towards him, so he prevented her from falling by bracing her with his body. She did manage to get the left shoe off, but then hoped around on her left foot for several awkward moments trying to pull off her right.

"How much have you had to drink tonight, Kate."

"I'm fine—these are just new shoes. Well, not new, but they're Lanie's so they're new to me and-"

"Kate," he interrupted. "How much?"

She blinked. "Not that much."

"But probably more than just one or two. Maybe we should just wait until-"

"Oh my god!" She proclaimed, as the word 'wait' had hit her like a knife to the gut. "You're turning me down too?"

"I just—wait, too?" he interrupted his own thought, clearly confused. Then, after a moment, he realized. "Oh…Lanie."

Still too annoyed to process his words, Kate paced the entryway in her bare feet. Idiot! She was an idiot! If Castle had turned down Lanie—a woman who would have been confident and probably a really good kisser—why had she even though she had a chance? Yes, he'd been gawking at her, but maybe he'd simply been surprised by her tight dress, which was quite different than the pantsuits he was used to seeing her in. "I cannot believe…I'm such an idiot. I thought—but you don't even—"

Kate stopped ranting abruptly when Rick grabbed her right arm. He spun her body so that she faced him and he held her there by cradling her neck with both of his hands. Running his thumbs over the edge of her jaw, he smiled down at her and said simply, "Kate. I am in love with you."

Having never heard such a phrase before, she remained absolutely stunned, only able to rasp out a half-response. "Y-you…"

He dipped his chin to brush his lips over hers in a feather-light way. "I love you— _you_. I don't want to be with anyone else, but you, but…when we do this it has to be right; perfect."

His final word made her skin feel like it was on fire. She knew her cheeks were turning a shade of brilliant tomato red when she mumbled out one of the concerns she'd tried to keep hidden deep down inside. "Well, actually I might be a little bit bad at it…"

An unwavering grin crossed his face. "That's what'll make it perfect. Now, let me get you some water." He walked away from her and, as he was well-acquainted with her kitchen, he was able to efficiently procure a tall glass of water. He handed it over to her and then continued tentatively, "Can I… I mean, if you agree, I'd like to spend the night here with you."

Caught off-guard she asked, "In my bed?"

He quirked his lips. "Well I wasn't going to sleep on the floor…"

If possible, Kate blushed harder. "Um…okay."

"Great." Then, with utmost casualty, he walked back to her bedroom, turned on the lights, and began turning down the covers almost as though he'd never stopped being her biweekly house android. Still sipping her water, Kate watched as he shed his dress shirt and pants leaving him in just a t-shirt and boxers. He then walked back to the hall to hang up his suit jacket and returned to the bedroom to pull her pajamas out of the correct storage drawer. Though she felt slightly dumbfounded at how attentive he was being, Kate also felt comfort and appreciation brewing inside her; he really did know her well.

"Would you like me to wait in the hall while you change?"

"Oh, ah…" She hesitated for a moment, but then decided what was the point if he was going to see her naked anyway. "No; it's okay. I'll just-"

"Here; let me." He interrupted when she reached for the zipper at the back of her dress. Hurrying over behind her, he unzipped the back of the snug black dress and waited for her to place her water glass down on the nightstand before helping her push it off her shoulders. She slid the item down her body and stepped out of it, leaving her in just a thong and a black bra. Not missing a beat, he took the dress from her hands and asked, "Laundry, right?"

"You—I mean, just because you know where that stuff is doesn't mean you have to…put away my laundry," she mumbled, slightly embarrassed as he opened her closet doors, folded the dress in thirds, and then place it into the wash basket on the floor.

He turned around and gave a simply shrug. "I don't mind helping. It…it's actually one of the things I miss most about companionship."

"Laundry?"

"No," he laughed. "Domesticity. As fun as fancy dates or world travels could be, I missed just being with someone and doing basic things like cooking."

She nodded, having very much enjoyed the meals they shared together. "I can see that." While she was quite used to being alone, having him in her space wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as she had once thought it would be. Then again, he was hardly some random individual she'd only just met.

After she finished changing and they took turns in the bathroom, they crawled beneath the covers of her bed and Kate immediately found herself overwhelmed with awkwardness. Over a decade had passed since she'd shared a bed with anyone—what if she moved around too much in her sleep? What if she snored? What if he snored?

Evidently picking up on her uncertainty, Rick asked, "You okay?"

"Fine," she quickly lied.

He appeared unconvinced. "Did you…want to cuddle a bit?"

"Okay," she agreed without really knowing what she was agreeing to, but curious all the same.

He instructed her to lay on her side in the middle of the bed and then he snuggled up behind her, dropping his arm over her waist and tucking his head against hers. When she felt his lips against the space where her neck met her shoulder, she pushed herself further against his body and rested her hand atop his. She shut her eyes and relaxed against him, reveling in the relaxed, safe feeling she had.

"I like how this feels," she sighed out without even realizing until she felt his breath against her ear as he whispered, "So do I."

Then, with his arm still around her, she cleared her mind of all thought and fell almost instantly to sleep.

* * *

Waking up the following morning, Kate actually found herself almost startled when she opened her eyes and spotted the man on the other side of her bed. In an instant the events of the prior evening came flooding back to her and she found herself simultaneously nervous and elated. Rick had stayed the night with her in bed because he loved her.

He _loved_ her.

For Kate, the notion of romantic love felt akin to magical spells or the ability to travel in time. Though she had been consciously aware of the love her parents had for one another before her mother's untimely death, since she had never experienced it, it was virtually impossible to conceptualize. Furthermore, not only had she not experienced love, but she hadn't felt any of the accompanying emotions either; she truly was in uncharted waters.

The prior night she had been ready to throw caution to the wind and dive into bed with Rick with reckless abandon. Had he not stopped them, they certainly would have had sex. She didn't believe she would have regretted it if it happened, particularly not with how sweet he was being to her, but her foremost emotion certainly would have been nerves and anxiety—not that she wouldn't be nervous whenever it happened, but at least she'd had the night to sober up and fully process the situation she found herself in.

Rick loved her, which most likely meant he was not simply interested in one night with her. While she'd briefly tried to talk herself into the "try sex while you can" camp that Lanie was in, Kate knew deep down that was not what she needed—or what she would be happy with. In the wake of her mother's death, she'd struggled to open up to anyone on any level more than being acquaintances. Despite this—and their rocky start—Kate had managed to forge a genuine friendship with Rick. She knew that upgrading that friendship to a romantic relationship would come with its own set of fears and anxieties (top of the list being because she'd never had such a relationship before) but knowing that he loved her and seeing that love reflected in how he treated her made it a leap she was most willing to take.

Not ready to move from her cozy spot quite yet, Kate shut her eyes and thought back to the prior night when Rick held her in his arms as he kissed her. The moment had, without question, been lovely; one of the best of her life, probably, but thinking about that moment made her think of another. Instantly, she breathed in sharply and felt and uncomfortable sensation in her belly.

The prior evening, in between kisses, Rick had correctly deduced that Kate had never before had a real sexual experience, which, given the society in which they lived, could not have been shocking news for him. Kate couldn't imagine she was one of the only women in such a state, but as brothels were not generally discussed at work or with her friends (other than Lanie) she couldn't say for sure. Even if they were discussed, Kate would not have participated because she did not feel that part of her life was anyone's business. Considering they had intentions to be intimate, she supposed Rick did have some right to know about her prior experience, but had it been up to her she probably wouldn't have shared quite so much.

"Hey."

His voice startled her and she opened her eyes to see he gazed at her with a dopey expression. "H-hi…"

He yawned and then asked, "Sleep okay?"

"Sure."

"Headache?"

"Not really. Just a little…embarrassed, I guess."

"Why?"

"I never told anyone about my…lack of experience before," she said, mumbling the last few words.

He gazed at her appearing quite unfazed. "Why is that embarrassing? It's honest."

"But I'm thirty-two…"

"So? Do you wish you'd had more android sex in those thirty-two years?"

"Definitely not," she responded.

"Then it doesn't matter."

"I did it once. Kind of," she confessed, her skin crawling at the memory of one of the least favorite days of her life. She had no idea why, but his patience and kind eyes somehow coaxed the details out of her. Plus, she felt he would understand her decision better if he understood the reasoning behind it.

"It was my twenty-first birthday. My college roommates paid for it. I think they must have hired the cheapest sex robot available."

"Why do you say that?"

Kate shut her eyes and gave a gentle shake of her head, not sure how much she should recount—for both her own mental sanity and Rick's presumable lack of interest. In that moment, she could still vividly remember entering room number nine at the downtown brothel. Her roommates had already purchased a pre-programmed "first time" package for her, and she was twenty-one; not naïve. She'd heard enough talk to know these things worked, but that didn't stop her heart from hammering in her chest.

The room smelled obnoxiously of fake floral scents and everything seemed to be illuminated in a pinkish hue. An android man sat at the end of a twin bed wearing a white t-shirt and navy-blue shorts. He had black hair and tanned simulated skin. When he smiled, his teeth were pure white and squared off, strangely robotic. Despite his casual, "Hello; let me take your coat," she never did relax.

The android had awkwardly helped her undress and then presented her with a diagram to help her get into position, which felt more insulting than romantic. Because of their computers and mechanics, the android men were too heavy to be on top of women safely, which meant their position options were limited to women being on top. As she'd already been aware, Kate hadn't minded this, but she had been slightly taken aback by how hard and almost metal-feeling the faux man's body was when she touched it—his genitals included.

Finally opening her eyes, Kate explained quickly, "At one point, one of his eyes kind of rolled back in his skull and the other eyelid started fluttering aggressively; it was really disturbing."

He pursed his lips quite seriously for a moment before saying, "No, no; that's how all human men look during orgasm."

She reflexively shot out a hand to smack the arm resting closest to her. "Shut up."

He grinned widely. "Sorry."

"After that creeped me out I just got up, dressed, and left," she concluded with a shrug. Not that she had expected to climax in that sort of environment. Doing that served only to prove to her that she was better off with her toys and vibrators; at least they didn't feel like steel or awkwardly pinch her breasts.

Pulling back the sheet from her body, Rick slid his hand up under her t-shirt and grazed it up her side until it rested just beside her left breast. He swept his thumb out until the very tip of the pad brushed over her nipple; Kate felt tingles feel her belly in response and unconsciously licked her lips.

"I'm sorry that happened," Rick husked, rolling towards her so that their faces were merely inches apart, "but I promise to try and make up for it." With that, he kissed her.

Kate lifted her head off the pillow to meet his mouth, to feel the heat of his breath. Thanks to lack of opportunity she was a novice at kissing just as much as everything else, but somehow instinct took over and she knew just how to run her tongue over his when he made the first move. She let out a light whimper when he covered both her breasts with his hands, almost bracing herself for the sharp grab she anticipated, but it never came. Instead, his hands were gentle as they squeezed and caressed.

He broke their kiss only to pull her t-shirt up and over her head. After tossing it casually aside his lips were back on hers, but just for a moment. He then began to kiss down her throat, across her collar bone, and down to the valley of her breasts. He glanced up to her, smiled, and then took her right nipple between his lips, darting his tongue over the tip. She'd barely gotten used to that sensation when she felt another: his fingers caressing her overtop of her shorts and panties. She gasped and rolled her hips at this new, incredible feeling.

She heard him chuckle deeply and the he lifted his head, giving her a cheeky smile. "You okay, Kate?"

"I…y-yeah…" She managed, though she wasn't sure her statement was the truth. Given the fact that every inch of her skin felt like it was on fire, she very much doubted she would be in the neighborhood of "okay" any time soon.

After paying thorough attention to each of her breasts, Rick moved his lips down to kiss across her belly all the way to the waistband of her shorts. He then lifted his head and slid back towards the end of the mattress so he could rid her of what remained of her clothing. He flashed her another grin as he tossed her panties back over his shoulder, clearly not caring where they landed. He reached out his hand to cover the now exposed area and asked, "Do you want to slow down?"

"Wha—I…um…" She found herself struggling with words as his fingers danced along her slit, just barely caressing the edges of her folds. "N-no. Why?"

"You're looking a bit wide-eyed, that's all."

"I think this is just how I'm going to look," she confessed a bit dumbly. Thankfully, he appeared amused and climbed back up the mattress to press a gentle kiss to her lips. He then skimmed his hands down the length of her sides and, when they joined at her hips, he guided her legs apart so he could kneel in-between. She watched with a mixture of fascination and anticipation as the clearly experienced man used both hands together to part her lower lips and stroke her most intimate areas. From the way her breasts and groin tingled, she knew she was wet, but hadn't realized quite how much until his fingers were gliding over her.

"Oh, oh!" She gasped when one of his fingers brushed lightly over her clit. She watched him smile before he moved his fingers back to the same spot, gently grazing across it in small circles. That time she groaned and dug her heels into the mattress, hardly able to stand the shockwaves of pleasure his actions caused.

After flashing her one last smile, Rick settled down with his head between her legs. She was not entirely sure what he was about to do until his tongue replaced his fingertip. He fluttered the tip over her sensitive nub and she let out a near growl while rolling her head back against her pillow. God—how did anything feel so good? She'd touched herself hundreds of times, but this was somehow better—it didn't make sense!

"Oh—Rick! Oh!" Her eyes opened wide when she felt his fingers spread her lips giving unrestricted access to every inch of her. She felt his tongue skim up and down for several moments until he settled his mouth over her clit to kiss and suck at it. Crying out again, Kate rolled her hips towards her face, gripped the edge of the sheet with her right hand while using her left to squeeze her breast. God, she wanted more, but wasn't sure how much more she could take before tumbling over the edge.

Using his tongue and lips, Rick coaxed her higher and higher on the precipice—higher than she'd ever thought possible—until she suddenly tumbled over the edge. Her entire body shuddered, and she let out an unintelligible sob as the shockwaves of pleasure filled every inch of her.

 _God._

Too consumed by the pulsations of pleasure coursing through her, Kate didn't notice Rick had moved positions until she cracked open one eye and saw he lay on his hip beside her with his right hand resting gently on her ribs. There was a notable smirk on his face, but she didn't even care; she was too sated to think of anything else.

"How was that?" he asked softly, his fingertips dancing across her side.

She shook her head, still a bit dazed, and sighed out, "Jesus…"

He shook his head and pointed to the center of his chest with his left index finger. "No; I'm Rick."

Reacting more to the shit-eating grin on his face that his words, she lifted her right hand and shoved at him with all the remaining strength she could muster. "Ass."

He smiled wider. "I'll also answer to that." He dipped his head and kissed her. Kate rolled her body into his, feeling the need to give in to the boneless, airy feeling she had and succumb to a nice nap, but the more curious side of her forced its way to the front. Rick's mouth on her was an incredible feeling—one she very much hoped to explore again in the future—but she wanted sex; real sex. She couldn't wait any longer to find out what it was really like.

Feeling a resurgence of strength, Kate pressed her hand against the center of Rick's chest and forced him to lie back, which gave her enough room to sit up. After tugging at the hem of his t-shirt for a moment, he helped her pull the item off leaving him half-naked. Beginning her curious exploration, she touched the tops of his shoulders and ran her fingers down over his collarbone until the met at the soft patch of hair sprouting from the center of his chest. She smiled as her fingers danced over his pectorals. Though she could certainly feel the firm muscles and bones beneath, he remained soft and pliable; human.

She kissed him and explored him as he'd done for her, but only for a few minutes, for she could only suppress the curiosity to see what a human male looked like fully naked for so long. Mimicking what he'd done to her, she kissed down his side until her lips met the waistband of his boxers, only when she began to tug them off, he helped her by lifting his hips and peeling them down over his hardened erection.

Kate blinked in slightly shock as she stared down at him. Perhaps her memory was off since the event had been over a decade prior, but she was certain he was larger than the android man she had been with. She immediately felt concerned that he would feel as awkward and hard but knew there was only one way to find out.

She reached out her right hand and skimmed her fingers over the top of his shaft until she reached the base. She then tried to wrap her whole hand around him, but before her fingers could close together he gasped and grabbed her wrist firmly. "Too tight," he grunted, pressing the pads of his fingers against her sensitive inner wrist until she relaxed her grip.

Feeling flush, she gazed up at him and whispered, "Sorry."

"'sokay, just try to remember I'm not made of metal parts."

She gave him a small smile before stroking her hand against him once more. She soon felt his lips against her neck and shoulders while she gave him several more strokes, wondering if he would want her to climb atop him like she had before. A moment later, when he nudged her back towards the mattress, she realized that would not be the case.

He took up his position between her legs once again, that time kneeling and arching most of his torso over hers. He brushed his lips over hers, nipping at the bottom one, which distracted her enough that she didn't realize he was about to enter her until she felt him slide inside her channel. She let out a groan at the fullness of him. It was certainly reminiscent of some of her toys, but much different as there was a very handsome man above her with his eyes shut as he groaned, "God, Kate; you're amazing."

He thrust his hips twice and she found herself grabbing at his waist to steady herself. When the next thrust felt slightly unpleasant, her fingertips squeezed harder and he moved his head so he could gaze down and ask, "You okay? Should I stop?"

"No, no," she shook he head quickly. She didn't want him to stop, she was simply…acclimating; trying to figure out what she was feeling. The sensation of him driving inside her was different than she anticipated, and she imagined like all things it wasn't perfect the first time. "It's…okay."

He shook off her obviously lackluster comment and said, "Hang on." Leaning back, he placed his hands on her ankles and lifted them so that her knees were bent and pointed towards her chin. When he settled back down on her, she could rest her legs against his sides. When he thrust again, that time a bit more languid, she no longer felt the unpleasant feeling; actually, it was quite the opposite.

With two more slow strokes he asked, "Better?" and she responded by lifting her head and pressing a kiss against his bottom lip. He hummed against her mouth and continued to move his hips, alternating a few long, slow strokes with several quick pumps. Though their lips were no longer connected, every now and then the tip of his nose would brush hers and she could feel tingles fluttering deep inside her chest.

Gazing up into the blue eyes of the incredible man she'd come to know, Kate found herself in awe. He was kind and caring, funny and generous. She had never known anyone like him, but in that moment never felt more grateful for their meeting. Shutting her eyes and pulling his body further into hers she realized she had been foolish to be nervous about intimacy with Rick; it was just as incredible as she hoped it would be.

After several more thrusts Rick climaxed, groaning out her name and then slumping down on the mattress, half on top of her. He lay there for a few seconds before lazily kissing her shoulder twice and rolling over towards his side of the bed. She rolled too so she could face him, and they shared soft smiles.

"Maybe we should have done that two years ago," she mused softly. Much to her surprise, he shook his head.

"Wouldn't have been the same."

She nodded in agreement. Realistically she knew her comment was born mostly of a post-orgasmic high and in reality their coupling would not have meant nearly as much—nor been nearly as pleasurable for her—if they'd jumped into bed without the basis of a friendship. Crazy as it was, the way their relationship had unfolded was for the best.

He reached out and brushed her cheek tenderly with the pads of his fingers. "I want you to be my girlfriend—officially. Is that okay?"

She gazed at him a moment, considering their past, and how far they'd come in the time since she'd discovered his true identity. "You need to never lie to me again."

He used his right fingers to mark an invisible X over his heart. "Promise. Seriously—ask me anything and I will be one hundred percent truthful."

"Good because if you're not, I'll have to shoot you with the stun gun again."

A breathy laugh escaped his lips. "While I definitely would not welcome that, but the thought of losing you is far scarier."

Kate felt her chest constrict with emotion from his words, and the way he gazed at her as he said them. _Love_. This was what love looked like. He loved her—he'd told her as much, but now she could see it. Though it still remained a foreign concept on many levels, in that moment she gained a hint of understanding. She would need time before she could reciprocate such feelings, but for that moment she stroked his cheek and said, "Okay, Rick; I'm your girlfriend—officially."

"Yay." He cheered with a dopey smile then gave her a quick kiss. Then, hovering his face near hers, he brushed his lips across her cheek and down to her chin before adding, "Mmm just let me know when you're ready to go again," as he snuck a hand over to caress one of her breasts.

"Again?" she echoed, slightly confused. "You want to have sex again?"

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Yes, you see the beauty of being humans is that we can do it as many times as we want—and there are no additional fees."

She processed his comment for a moment. "Wait—is that what happens at those brothels?"

"You didn't know that."

"How would I know that?"

He shrugged. "Don't you talk to your friends about it?"

"I mean…not really. Lanie tells me when she goes, and the name of the package she ordered if it was a good one in her opinion but…" She considered for another moment, reviewing all such conversations in her mind. "No, I don't think she ever told me about any additional fees."

He shrugged. "Well, now you don't need to worry about that. So…about round two…" He brushed his thumb against her nipple, but she gently pulled his hand away.

"Sorry—not right now. I'm still…wrapping my mind around all of this."

He lay back against the pillow and gave her an easy smile. "That's okay. Take your time—we have all day…and maybe even tomorrow. When's your next shift?"

"Tomorrow morning and…you're not leaving?"

He held his arms out in a wide and inviting manner. "Not until you tell me to. Use me as your sex slave—please!" he added with enthusiasm.

She laughed. "I don't need a sex slave right now, thanks."

He reached out and picked up one of her hands. After bringing it to his face and kissing her knuckles he said, "I'm sorry; I'm being too overzealous, but this is completely new to you so-"

"Not completely," she corrected. "I'm not that naïve. I may not have been with androids, but I have…experience," she concluded a bit weakly. Vibrators counted as experience, right?

He blinked at her. "Oh— _oh_. I'm sorry; I didn't even think… Sometimes I feel like I know you so well, I forget what assumptions I've made in my head. I didn't realize you'd been with women."

Kate felt her cheeks flush. "No—I haven't been with women. Not like that."

"Like what?"

She shut her eyes and huffed out a breath. Well, there was no point in trying to keep any secrets from him, was there? He'd probably figure it all out eventually; he had that way about him. "I haven't had sex with a woman. The most I've done was made out a little bit—and I haven't done that since high school."

He sighed wistfully. "Ah, those experimental days. I heard all about it at the lunch tables…"

A breathy laugh escaped her lips. "I think almost everyone I knew dabbled. I mean—what else did we have to do?" In decades past, the incidents probably would have become some R-rated teen movie, but in that time period most women found them almost normal. Group sleepovers where mani-pedis were precursors to making out—sometimes more. For her, after the curiosity of learning how to kiss passed, all other interest dwindled.

"Some of my friends did it out of boredom, others out of loneliness, but I never saw the appeal." Smiling softly, she reached out and pressed her hand to the center of his chest. "Now I know why." Though she'd tried to ignore it, a small voice in the back of her head had her wondering whether the fact that she had a distaste for sex with male androids while others did not meant something was wrong in her head, but after being with Rick she knew she wasn't wrong—just old fashioned. A real man could make her feel those things others had spoken about; thankfully, she had found one.

Scooting closer to him, Kate rested her head on Rick's chest and he wound his arms around her. "For the record," he said softly, "I'm really glad your dad answered my ad."

Shutting her eyes, Kate relaxed more deeply into his chest and agreed. "Me too."

* * *

 **A/N** : Thank you all so much for your enthusiasm & kind reviews . Epilogue will be up tomorrow


	7. Epilogue

**AFTER**

"Morning Lanie," Kate Beckett said, shielding a yawn as she walked into the morgue. Man, did she miss her coffee that morning. As was uncommon those days, she had stayed at her place the prior night, not at her boyfriend's, and she had disappointingly discovered her supply of coffee was vacant around five a.m. that morning. As she had an early shift, she had no choice but to get ready sans caffeine and hope for the best when it came to her alertness. Two hours later, she was still struggling.

Gazing up from her desk, Lanie shot her a rather incredulous look. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Um…it's nice to see you, too," Kate said with notable annoyance, not used to such a harsh greeting from her friend.

"Seriously—why are you here?

"Um, because you have autopsy results…?" she said as more of a question, not sure what was going on. She had seen the email on her phone as she was leaving the house that morning. Lanie had worked the nightshift and the results notification email had come through around two a.m.

"I already sent those to Karpowski."

"Oh. Well, um, I guess I'll go talk to her then." Still feeling confused, she turned around and took a step towards the exit before her friend stopped her again.

"Hang on—you haven't been to your desk yet, have you?"

Kate shook her head as she rotated her body. "No. Why?"

Lanie hummed and folded her arms over her chest. "That explains it then. When you do see your desk, you're probably want to go ahead and call in sick today, so you can go home and celebrate your anniversary properly."

"Well, I'm not—wait." Kate shook her head when Lanie's words fully processed in her mind. "How do you know today is my anniversary?"

Lanie chortled. "Honey, the whole NYPD knows it's your anniversary."

"WHAT?" Kate bleated out while cursing her boyfriend beneath her breath; she could only imagine what he had done to result in a comment like that from Lanie. "Why? How? What are you talking about?"

"Well I'm not going to spoil it for you; you're going to have to see for yourself."

"Oh my god," she muttered before spinning around and hurrying towards the exit.

* * *

By the time Kate arrived on the third floor of the Twelfth precinct she was sweating. She could not even begin to imagine what Rick could have done to her desk or surrounding area in the fourteen hours since she'd seen him last, but the prospects were terrifying. When he became extremely enthusiastic about something, his creativity was boundless so, really, the sky was the limit. She merely hoped it was something that could easily bee un-done.

Practically sprinting off the elevator, she hurried towards her desk, expecting a large, ceiling-high display, but didn't see anything like that. Caught off guard by her lack of shock, she slowed her walk, her eyes continuing to search the area. It took her almost another full minute to see it or, rather, _them_ for atop her desk sat a glass vase with a dozen real, red roses.

"Oh Rick," she sighed with amazement as she approached. "What did you do?"

In the prior half century, roses had become nearly extinct due to a disease that attacked most of the world's remaining crop, which had already dwindled due to limited farm lands and population explosion. As a result, the flower, which remained a symbol of romance, was exceedingly difficult to come by—and very expensive. Though she had seen many fake plastic ones, Kate had never before seen a real rose in person, and now she had twelve.

Stepping up beside her desk, she reached out to touch the petal of one of the flowers, feeling its smooth surface between the pads of her fingers. At that close of a distance, she could smell the flowers lovely fragrance and felt a smile blossom across her face. Her boyfriend truly was one of a kind.

Exactly six months had passed since the night she and Rick shared their first kiss and Kate could confidently say that she had never been happier. Their first month together had been rough—very rough. As he had been in relationships several times before, Rick dove in head first and never looked back while she felt the need to stay tentatively on shore despite the fact that he continually tugged on her arm and tried to drag her out to sea with him. In the end, they found their way, and she leaned to let go of all her fears and uncertainty and simply be happy.

Kate soon found that being with Rick was the easy part. He made her laugh and smile—and the sex certainly wasn't anything to complain about. Being a woman in a relationship with a human man, however, became a trickier avenue to navigate. As they were previously aware of Rick (and, quite honestly, appalled it hadn't happened sooner) her coworkers adjusted easily enough; the rest of the world was a different story. To that day, she and Rick could not go out in public together without getting at least a dozen gaping stares. She hadn't anticipated such reactions at all and struggled with them greatly as she had never been one to desire attention. Being a spectacle certainly was her least favorite part of her relationship with Rick, but it was worth it for all the other wonderful things he brought to a life, including love, which was the best of all.

After observing each and every one of the twelve flowers, Kate pulled the small white card from the center of the bouquet and held it between her fingers as she read, _Happy six-month anniversary, love; see you tonight_. Though Kate did not necessarily feel the need to celebrate such a milestone, she certainly had no intentions of turning down the homecooked meal he offered her. While she already had plans to thank him thoroughly for the dinner, given his floral gift she decided she needed she might need to expand her thank you in a more creative and sexy way.

"You won the lottery, Beckett."

Kate glanced to her left to see one of her coworkers standing a foot away eyeing the flowers with envy. Looking back to the red roses herself, Kate knew what the woman said was correct. The luck she had to find Rick and become one of the few women she knew to be in a relationship with a man was not lost on her—not even a little bit. She woke up grateful every day that she was one of the lucky ones and, though he still drove her absolutely crazy sometimes, she tried her best never to take him for granted.

"Yeah, I think I might have."

"May…may I smell them?" the woman asked cautiously.

"Oh, here!" Kate reached out and grabbed one of the roses from the bunch, holding it out to her colleague. "Take one. Please."

"No," she refuted, looking a bit embarrassed. "They're yours."

"But I don't need twelve. Please," she repeated, reaching a bit further with the flower. Ultimately, the woman took it with a very genuine thank you and walked away cradling the rose to her chest.

Kate had barely sat down at her desk when another one of her coworkers approached and pointed out that her flowers were beautiful. "Are you doing something special for your anniversary?" she asked.

"No, I don't think so." Kate said, while also realizing that with Rick there could very likely be more surprise to come. "He said he was going to make dinner, but he does that a lot."

"I bet your dessert has a ring in it," the woman commented as she walked away.

Kate merely shook her head and turned to her computer, but when she reached out for her keyboard, she paused and thought about what would happen if Rick presented her a chocolate cupcake with a ring tucked into the icing.

Her chest filled with a warm, happy feeling and she cradled the card with his note close to her chest while thinking about the two of them together, building a family, a future. Though she never would have thought of any of that before meeting him, Kate realized in that moment such a future didn't sound so bad. Actually, it sounded lovely—and she couldn't wait to experience it.

* * *

 **A/N** : Thank you all so, so much for all your reviews/comments

Next up is Richard Castle as The Bachelor in "Looking for Love" - starting Saturday! :)


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